Apple is continuing efforts to advance internal self-driving car technology, with the iPhone maker recently registering more drivers to pilot technology test beds on California roads. In early August, Apple's autonomous vehicle program consisted of 69 test vehicles and 92 pilots, according to filings with California's Department of Motor Vehicles. The number of testbeds has not increased as of Sept. 10, but Apple is now permitted to field 114 registered drivers. As noted by macReports, the increase does not match a peak of 154 driver permits reached in October 2020. It does appear, however, that the tech giant is slowly rebuilding its ranks after nearly halving the number of licensed drivers attached to the program earlier this year.

Self-driving cars will start rolling on the streets of San Francisco without a human on board by the end of this year, according to Cruise, a General Motors-owned autonomous vehicle company that received a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles this week. Cruise is now one of five companies to hold a permit to test self-driving cars in California without a person in the vehicle, along with the Alphabet-owned Waymo and several others, though dozens of companies have been permitted by the California DMV to test self-driving cars with a human operator in the vehicle. GM President Dan Ammann confirmed in blog post on Thursday that the company will rapidly deploy its autonomous vehicles in San Francisco by the end of this year, citing the potential safety and environmental benefits the technology could have for city residents. "And while it would be easier to do this in the suburbs, where driving is 30–40 times less complex, our cities are ground zero for the world's transportation crisis," Ammann wrote. "This is where accidents, pollution, congestion, and lack of accessibility collide.

Washington, DC has taken some steps to govern self-driving cars, but now it's finally going to see those cars in action. Ford and its partner Argo AI have unveiled plans to test their autonomous vehicles in the US capital with an eye toward commercial service in 2021. The duo already has cars on the road, and will spend the next year expanding its test fleet until it's operating in all eight wards. Yes, you might just see one of these vehicles roaming near the National Mall. The automaker is collaborating with local officials and hopes to create jobs in the area.

WASHINGTON (WISH) - Ohio lawmakers want to boost automated vehicle testing in the state. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking the U.S. Transportation secretary to reverse an Obama-era policy that keeps the Transportation Research Center in Ohio from getting federal money to test self-driving cars. Ohio lawmakers say the center is the perfect place to test self-driving cars. They say it's the largest and most sophisticated independent vehicle testing ground in North America. U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, a Republican from Ohio, said, "They can test in different road conditions, different weather conditions, wind conditions. They can simulate almost anything."

Apple, on the verge of being the first $1 trillion market capitalization company, constantly looks to expand its business and product and service lines. SAN FRANCISCO -- Could the iCar be hitting the road soon? After CEO Tim Cook admitted last summer that Apple was indeed working on self-driving car technology, the company largely has remained mum on details. But with state permits to operate 55 autonomous cars in California, it seems the iPhone maker could be ready to try out some of its autonomous car tech on Golden State roads. In the latest tally of permits issued as of May 10 for both self-driving cars and drivers approved to monitor such vehicles, the California Department of Motor Vehicles says Apple ranks second only to General Motors' Cruise Automotive, which has permits for 104 vehicles.

You might not hail a ride from China's Didi Chuxing unless you visit Mexico, but there's still a real chance you'll see its vehicles on the road. California's Department of Motor Vehicles has issued an autonomous vehicle testing permit to Didi's American research wing, clearing it to operate self-driving cars as long as there's a safety driver. The move comes slightly over a year after Didi opened its US research lab, suggesting the company isn't wasting much time putting its technology on the road. Didi is getting its permit just weeks after California introduced new rules around self-driving permits, the brunt of which focused on completely driverless vehicles. A total of 53 companies were part of this new permit batch, though many of them are no strangers to the technology. In addition to established car brands like BMW, Ford, GM, Honda, Tesla, Toyota and Subaru, you'll also see tech giants like Apple, Lyft, NVIDIA and Samsung.

Toyota announced today that it will build a gigantic, 60-acre facility in Michigan to test "edge case" driving scenarios with its autonomous vehicles that are too dangerous to perform on public roads. The news comes more than a month after the Japanese auto giant halted its self-driving tests on public roads in the US in the wake of a deadly crash involving a self-driving Uber in Arizona. Construction permits were filed this week to transform an approximately 60-acre site at Michigan Technical Resource Park in Ottawa Lake into a closed-course facility for the Toyota Research Institute, the car company's Silicon Valley arm, to test its vehicles. The site will include congested urban environments, slick surfaces, and a four-lane divided highway with high-speed entrance and exit ramps. When it becomes operational this October, the company will use the site to specifically test scenarios deemed too risky for public roads, most likely involving vehicles without a human driver.

China's Alibaba Group has been testing its own autonomous vehicle technology, the South China Morning Post reports, and is looking to hire an additional 50 self-driving vehicle experts. Alibaba's rivals Baidu and Tencent have also been working on autonomous technology and last month, Baidu received the go-ahead from the Chinese government to begin testing its technology on Beijing roads. Tencent reportedly sent one of its autonomous vehicles for a ride on a Beijing highway earlier this month. According to the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, the company has been conducting regular road tests of self-driving vehicles and has the capability to perform open road trials. It's looking to develop Level 4 autonomous technology, meaning that under certain conditions, the car can operate on its own without human involvement.

China's capital city has given the green light to tech giant Baidu Inc to test self-driving cars on city streets, indicating strong support for the budding sector even as the industry reels from a fatal accident in the United States. Beijing's move is an important step as China looks to bolster its position in the global race for autonomous vehicles, where regulatory concerns have come into the spotlight since the crash earlier this month. The accident in Tempe, Arizona, involving an Uber self-driving car, was the first death attributed to a self-driving car operating in autonomous mode, and has ramped up pressure on the industry to prove its software and sensors are safe. China's capital city has given the green light to tech giant Baidu Inc to test self-driving cars on city streets, indicating strong support for the budding sector even as the industry reels from a fatal accident in the United States. Beijing has given Baidu, best known as China's version of search engine Google, a permit to test its autonomous vehicles on 33 roads spanning around 105 kilometres (65 miles) in the city's less-populated suburbs, the firm said in a statement.

If you work on self-driving cars, the cocktail party question people always ask is probably: When will I get to interact with one? For two years now, Ford Motor Company has had an answer--in 2021. That year, Ford wants to launch a self-driving taxi service, and it wants to start making deliveries with driverless vehicles. But before the Detroit automaker does any of that, it needs to figure out how to run a fleet. Which is why the company announced today that it will begin to test autonomous vehicles and build its first operations terminal in Miami, Florida.