Apple Working To Build Self-Driving Car

The Guardian has learned that Apple is building a self-driving car in Silicon Valley. The multinational technology giant is looking for some secure locations in the San Francisco bay area to test the car.

In May, engineers from Apple’s secretive Special Project team met with officials from GoMentum Station, a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco that is being turned into a high-security testing ground for autonomous vehicles.

In correspondence obtained by the Guardian under a public records act request, Apple engineer Frank Fearon wrote, “We would ... like to get an understanding of timing and availability for the space, and how we would need to coordinate around other parties who would be using [it].”

GoMentum Station is on the old Concord naval weapons station. It is a disused second world war-era facility and has 20 miles of paved highways and city streets. The base is being closed for the public and is guarded by the military.

As per officials, it is the largest secure test facility in the world for testing validation and commercialization of connected vehicle (CV) applications and autonomous vehicles (AV) technologies.

It has been said that Mercedes-Benz and Honda have already carried out experiments with self-driving cars behind its barbed-wire fences. Also, Google, Tesla, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and several other carmakers have been issued permits by the California department of motor vehicles to test self-driving cars on the state’s public roads.

Randy Iwasaki, executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, owner of GoMentum Station, said in a statement that they had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Apple.