Petr Škuta Apple has confirmed that it has bought startup Drive.ai. He was dedicated to self-driving cars. The employees have already moved under the California company, which is apparently still working on the Titan project.
News about the startup's purchase appeared already on Tuesday. At first, however, it appeared that Apple only hired a few engineers from Drive.ai. The employer has changed on their Linked.In profiles, and four of them are working on special projects.
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Jakub Karnik The startup Drive.ai itself was supposed to end its activities by Friday of this week. Speculation subsided when Apple itself confirmed the purchase of the company, including all employees. But it all started three weeks ago, when representatives of the Cupertino company became interested in Drive.ai.
It is now confirmed that the startup is ending its independent existence this Friday, June 28, not because of bankruptcy, but rather because of an acquisition by the Cupertino-based tech giant. The Mountain View offices will therefore be closed permanently.
As developers, engineers and technicians head under Apple's wing, company leaders as well as the CFO and the director of robotics have been let go. However, not in the last few days, but already on June 12.
Drive.ai has been developing a special construction kit
Drive.ai stood out from the crowd of similarly focused companies by taking an unconventional approach to self-driving cars. Most companies, and especially car companies, try to build cars with built-in elements and components that, when combined with software, will enable the car to be autonomous.
The startup, on the other hand, was developing a construction kit that would enable autonomous driving after retrofitting into any existing car. The unconventional approach and commitment of the employees earned the company an award of up to 200 million dollars. The startup was even offered a partnership by companies like Lyft offering taxi services.
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Amaya Toman However, Apple ended everyone else's hope with its purchase of Drive.ai. Although his Titan project was supposed to go through a slimming process in recent months, on the other hand, however, to the team returned by Bob Mansfield. He retired from Apple in 2016.
It seems Cupertino isn't about to give up on its self-driving car vision just yet.
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Source: 9to5Mac
