Apple meets with California regulators on self-driving car

Apple executives have met with California regulators to talk about self-driving cars.

The Financial Times reports the meeting was confirmed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which issues permits to companies wishing to test self-driving cars on a public road.

"DMV often meets with various companies regarding DMV operations. The Apple meeting was to review DMV's autonomous vehicle regulations," said the regulator in a statement obtained by the news outlet.

The statement was released after the Guardian reported that Mike Maletic, senior legal counsel at Apple, met with the department's self-driving car experts for an hour on August 17.

Among those in the meeting were Bernard Soriano, DMV deputy director, and Stephanie Dougherty, chief of strategic planning. Both are sponsors of California's autonomous vehicle regulation project.

The Guardian says the meeting suggests Apple's autonomous vehicle is "almost ready for public view."

The meeting is the latest sign the iPhone maker is venturing into the car industry.

Last week, it was revealed that Apple had acquired a technology that could be used for navigation, through its purchase of Mapsense, a geospatial data analysis company.

The Guardian revealed last month that Apple had inquired about testing a self-driving car at a former military base near San Francisco. The company is not believed to have conducted tests on the site, which has miles of empty streets.

In February, it was reported that more than 1,000 people were working on Apple's driverless car, codenamed Titan, at a lab near the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley. Among them were Jamie Carlson, who had worked on the autopilot program of electric car pioneer, Tesla.

That came amid reports a minivan with cameras and sensors mounted on its roof was seen roaming around the San Francisco Bay Area. The vehicle was registered to Apple.

Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly went to BMW's headquarters in Germany to explore the possibility of teaming up with the luxury carmaker.

Despite these developments, some claim it is premature to say Apple is coming out with an autonomous car soon. Mashable notes building cars is very different from manufacturing gadgets, and, if speculations are true, it would take Apple years to develop one.

There has been no confirmation from Apple about Project Titan. That's in stark contrast to Google and driver-hailing app, Uber, which have both been vocal about their plans to develop autonomous cars.