本周，苹果获准在加州街头测试自动汽车，目前苹果已被授权测试雷克萨斯制造的三辆汽车，成为第三十家被授予测试许可证的公司。
长期以来，苹果在开展自动汽车项目的消息街知巷闻，但该公司从未公开确认任何细节。苹果曾表示，对许多领域的自动化系统（包括运输）潜力感到“兴奋”。有关苹果汽车雄心勃勃的传闻很多，从正在建造自己的汽车、重点研发车载软件等。苹果内部的“Titan”项目，一度被理解为拥有1000多名员工，尽管目前苹果公司的投入规模尚不得知。
已在批准的规定中，苹果需要定期反馈关于技术性能的统计数据，包括电脑出错时人们的干预频率。
目前。苹果的竞争对手已经在测试自主车辆，去年Waymo（从Google自动驾驶计划中单飞的公司），在加州的自动驾驶时间已达到635,868英里。
统计显示，每自动驾驶五千公里，人类就要介入操作一次。
Apple has been granted a permit to test self-driving cars on the streets of California.
It has long been known that Apple is working on automotive-related projects, but the company has never publicly confirmed any details.
The news was made public by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles on Friday.
The agency said Apple has been given permission to test three cars manufactured by Lexus.
Apple has not commented - other than to point to its letter late last year expressing an interest in the technology.
The company was "excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation”, it said at the time.
Rumours about Apple’s car ambitions have ranged from speculation it was building its own car to the suggestion it was instead focusing more on in-car software.
Internally known as Project Titan, the project at one point was understood to have more than 1,000 employees working on it, though the current scale of Apple’s efforts is unknown.
Encountering self-driving cars in California is a daily occurrence for those living around Silicon Valley. Apple has become the 30th company to be granted a testing permit.
Among the stipulations for approval is the requirement to regularly report back statistics on the performance of the technology - including how often humans have to intervene when the computer gets it wrong.
Apple's competitors have already been testing autonomous vehicles. Last year Waymo - a company spun out of Google's self-driving programme - clocked up 635,868 miles in California. Statistics showed a human had to step in on average once every 5,000 miles of driving.
