Apple has secured a permit for autonomous-vehicle testing in California, the Wall Street Journal reports. The permit awarded by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is Apple’s first for autonomous cars and allows it to test drive vehicles on public roads in the largest US state by population; Alphabet and Tesla already hold the same permits.
The Apple permit covers three 2015 Lexus sport-utility vehicles, which would be retrofitted with hardware and software to be used in autonomous mode. It also covers six human operators who must sit behind the wheel to monitor the driving and take over when needed, according to the DMV.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the permit and referred to a statement it issued in December, when the company said it is investing in machine learning and autonomous systems.
