The New York Times reports Apple has signed a deal with German car maker Volkswagen for vans that will act as self-driving shuttles that will ferry employees around Apple’s campuses and office buildings.
In recent years, Apple sought partnerships with the luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz to develop an all-electric self-driving vehicle, according to five people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But on-again, off-again talks with those companies have ended after each rebuffed Apple’s requirements to hand over control of the data and design, some of the people said.
Instead, Apple has signed a deal with Volkswagen to turn some of the carmaker’s new T6 Transporter vans into Apple’s self-driving shuttles for employees — a project that is behind schedule and consuming nearly all of the Apple car team’s attention, said three people familiar with the project.
Apple’s self-driving shuttle program, dubbed “PAIL” or Palo Alto to Infinite Loop, has been under development since last summer. The NYT report indicates the Apple program is behind schedule, and is “consuming nearly all of the Apple car team’s attention.”
Apple has been testing several Lexus vehicles equipped with self-driving hardware and software on the streets of Cupertino and the surrounding areas.
(Via MacRumors)