Apple drops hints about its work on a self-driving car

Apple Inc. took its biggest step toward acknowledging it is working on autonomous vehicles, writing a letter to U.S. regulators offering feedback on proposed guidelines for the emerging technology.

The letter from Steve Kenner, Apple’s AAPL, +0.37%   director of product integrity, to the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offered no details on the project, but said Apple “is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation.”

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has been working on its car effort, code-named Project Titan, for several years, but has never publicly acknowledged it. The secrecy has made the exact status of Project Titan hard to pinpoint. The Wall Street Journal reported in September that Apple had restructured some elements of the project, which has had several hundred employees working on it, after placing it under veteran Apple executive Bob Mansfield in Ju

Apple has looked at doing an entire car, but more recently its focus has narrowed to developing an autonomous-driving system and software. Focusing on software is more in line with the company’s historic expertise and fits its efforts to improve machine-learning capabilities that allow computers to adjust their behavior without being explicitly programmed.

Apple’s five-page letter, dated Nov. 22, appears on the NHTSA website. It isn’t clear when it was posted.

[Source:- Marketwatch]