Apple’s autonomous car project is no secret to anyone following the company closely. Apple uses Lexus SUVs that drive on the streets of Cupertino to do its autonomous testing.
As reported by MacRumors, one of Apple’s autonomous vehicles was involved in an accident and the company is required to report this information to the DMV.
The accident happened on August 24, 2018, at approximately 2:58 p.m. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the car was actually rear-ended by another vehicle while attempting to merge onto another road. Apple’s test vehicle was traveling at less than 1 mph before it was hit by a 2016 Nissan Leaf at roughly 15 mph.
On August 24th at 2:58 p.m., an Apple vehicle in autonomous mode was rear-ended while preparing to merge onto Lawrence Expressway South from Kifer Road. The Apple test vehicle was traveling less than 1 mph waiting for a safe gap to complete the merge when a 2016 Nissan Leaf contacted the Apple test vehicle at approximately 15 mph.
Apple’s autonomous vehicles are equipped with sensors and cameras that enables the autonomous driving capabilities. However, two drivers are required to be inside the vehicle in this stage of testing.
We last reported that Apple currently has 50 autonomous-enabled vehicles in testing. It’s unclear at this time what Apple plans on doing with its autonomous vehicle tech. Whether they’re going to license the software to other manufacturers, or if the company plans on building its own hardware to work alongside. If Apple is planning on releasing its own hardware, that should be out before 2025.
