Apple now has 55 self-driving cars registered with the DMV, compared to 27 earlier this year and just three last year. That means Apple has the second largest fleet of self-driving cars in California.
Apple now has more cars registered than Waymo, which has 51, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. General Motor’s Cruise, however, leads the pack with 104 vehicles. In total, the DMV has provided self-driving car permits with safety drivers to 53 companies, resulting in a total of 409 vehicles and 1,573 safety drivers.
Here’s a quick overview of where some of the autonomous driving leaders stand in terms of registered cars:
- General Motor’s Cruise: 104
- Apple: 55
- Waymo: 51
- Tesla: 39
- Drive.ai: 14
- Toyota: 11
- NVIDIA: 8
- Lyft: 4
- Aurora: 4
- Voyage: 3
- Didi: 1
Number of safety drivers approved:
- Apple: 83
- Waymo: 338
- GM Cruise: 407
To be clear, the companies listed above only have permits to test self-driving cars with safety drivers on board. As of now, the DMV has not issued any permits for complete driverless testing. In order to conduct driverless testing, companies must have previously tested the vehicles in controlled conditions. The vehicles must also, among many other things, meet the definition of an SAE Level 4 or 5 vehicle. The DMV is currently reviewing two driverless testing permit applications, a DMV spokesperson told TechCrunch.