Apple's Robo-Car Letter Reveals 30-Year Detroit Veteran On Its Stealth Auto Team

As carmakers and tech companies race to perfect self-driving vehicles, Apple's program and its automotive intentions remain notably ambiguous. Like Washington's old rule about the National Security Agency, its very existence isn't to be mentioned – at least not by the company. Yet when Apple recently offered views on preliminary guidelines for autonomous vehicles in a letter to U.S. regulators, it let slip an interesting detail: Its "Titan" project team has a high-level Big 3 veteran with more than 30 years of industry expertise. The author of Apple's comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is Steve Kenner, identified in the letter as the company's director of product integrity. It confirms that Apple wants the option to test automated vehicles on public roads, though it doesn't mention a specific plan to do so or an intention to commercialize such technology.