Apple still interested in producing a car?

Even though to most it seemed as though Apple had put their car plans on hold in October, the company seem to have remained interest in the autonomous transportation industry.

According to the guys over at VentureBeat, last week, Apple wrote a letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration telling it that “new entrants” to the auto industry should get the same rights as the established companies in the industry.

In the letter, Apple admits to its interest in “machine learning and automation” as it pertains to transportation.

Established car manufacturers do not have to pursue exemptions to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards when attempting to test cars on public roads due to the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

New entrants in the auto industry, like Google and others, are not granted the same right under the FAST Act.

Apple wants the NHTSA to amend policy to state that seeking exemptions isn’t necessary for internal development vehicles on public roads.

The letter also addresses the Federal Automated Vehicles policy and a proposed data sharing program. From the Sauce:

“Apple agrees that companies should share de-identified scenario and dynamics data from crashes and near-misses, data should be sufficient to reconstruct the event, including time-series of vehicle kinematics and characteristics of the roadway and objects.”

Apple also points out that data sharing should not come at the expense of privacy, and that companies should invest resources to protect the “individuals’ fundamental right to privacy.”

The letter was signed by Apple VP of Product Integrity Steve Kenner, who used to be Ford’s Global Director of Automotive Safety.

Apple issued a statement to Financial Times confirming the letter and Apple’s interest in helping to define rules for self-driving vehicles. Sauce:
“We’ve provided comments to NHTSA because Apple is investing heavily in machine learning and autonomous systems,” the Apple spokesman said. “There are many potential applications for these technologies, including the future of transportation, so we want to work with NHTSA to help define the best practices for the industry.”