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Apple is Thinking of Buying an Autonomous Car Startup

I’m going to be disappointed if the cars aren’t shaped like apples.

Apple is already one of the largest players in the smartphone, tablet, and computer industry. Now, it seems like the California-based tech giant is considering entry into the autonomous car industry as well.

According to The Information, Apple is thinking of acquiring self-driving car startup Drive.ai, a small Texas-based startup company that was founded in 2015. The startup has been testing a couple of its self-driving commercial vehicles in Frisco, Texas, where it owns a fleet of self-driving pick-up and drop-off service shuttles.

The acquisition will be done through a process of “acqui-hire,” wherein Apple will hire engineers from Drive.ai to work for them instead, without actually purchasing any of the startup’s existing intellectual property. The planned deal will be a win-win for both, as Drive.ai has been dealing with troubles recently while Apple has been wanting to get into AI cars for quite some time now.

Reports say that despite receiving a total of over $77 million in 2015 and 2016, Drive.ai has actually been having a hard time getting additional funds for continued independent operation. Due to this, the company started looking for buyers earlier this year.

Apple, on the other hand, has been experimenting with self-driving technology since 2014. It even had the extremely stealthy “Titan” car project, where only a handful of Apple employees were in the know regarding the project.

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