Apple has purchased self-driving technology startup Drive.ai for an undisclosed amount of money.
The Cupertino tech giant is reportedly hiring the startup’s engineers, product design staff, buying its assets and using its self-driving vehicles.
Drive.ai is reported to be worth around $77 million USD (roughly, $101 million CAD) by Axios. That said, Apple was likely able to purchase the company for less than that amount. Two years ago the Drive.ai’s value was at $200 million USD (roughly, $262 million CAD).
The was using its autonomous vehicles to shuttle workers around a business park in Frisco, Texas and to ferry people from Arlington, Texas to Dallas Cowboys games.
The Drive.ai deal is an ‘acqui-hire,’ meaning that Apple purchased the company mainly for its employees rather than its tech, according MacRumors.
Apple is working with Volkswagen to build self-driving vans to move its employees around Apple Park.
Apple’s Titan self-driving project has been all over the place in the last few years. While the company has confirmed almost no information about the project, Apple has reportedly changed the focus of its self-driving efforts a few times.
Source: MacRumours, Axios
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