Apple has purchased Drive.ai, a Mountain View-based startup specializing in independent driving. The news was formally verified by the same business, reported by Axios. Apple employs dozens of Drive.ai technicians with the procurement contract, with the company discontinuing all activities in latest weeks.
The first news about Apple's takeover dates back to early June in order to accelerate the growth of a patented driving technology. The word "acqui-hire" was used at the moment to describe the contracts between the two businesses, with Apple appearing to be more interested in staff than in technology.
Who are Drive.ai? It is a startup established in 2015 by a group of learners from Stanford University who in some Texas towns have been able to launch a self-driving van service. The startup has encountered several periods of financial trouble over the years, however, and has attempted to overcome them by searching for prospective customers.
Therefore, with the confirmation of the last few hours, we can say the search is over, even if we don't understand what the selling price was. To date, we don't understand much about Apple's attempts in terms of independent driving: there have been some recent rumors about the willingness to set up a shuttle service on campus for business staff and bring them to the multiple offices in the Bay Area.
Drive.ai's purchase also indicates that the interest of the Apple in a hypothetical Apple Car has not entirely disappeared. Apple fired 200 staff in a "restructuring" operation from the autonomous driving division in February, but with the news of the last few hours it seems the Apple is still interested in driving without a driver.