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Apple's self-driving car thing is further forth than expected. Project Titan officials announced to be negotiating space at a secure World War II-era former naval base in Concord, CA, northeast of Oakland and San Francisco.

If so, Apple volition have to share infinite with other automakers already testing at the secure facility. Honda and Mercedes-Benz are already testing there (just not at the same fourth dimension), according to a written report in The Guardian.

Secure testing for continued, autonomous vehicles

The site Apple wants to use is GoMentum Station, as the exam facility is at present called. Overseen past the Contra Costa (county) Transportation Authorisation, information technology offers 20 miles of secure (give or take drones) roadways for testing autonomous vehicles (self-driving vehicles) and also connected vehicles. Automakers, universities and others with car-enquiry needs can lease access to the facility, and if necessary, get exclusive use of all or some of the facility, which is under armed forces guard. GoMentum bills itself as "the largest secure exam facility in the world" for cocky-driving and connected cars.

Apple'due south inquiry suggests the company is well forth in prototyping a cocky-driving auto and needs to get some hands-off experience on urban roads and highways. The Apple project, lawmaking-named Project Titan, is at a skunkworks site 4 miles from Apple's Cupertino Headquarters.

Apple is believed to have with Fiat-Chrysler and BMW as potential partners, for case to supply the car body and some or all of the drivetrain.

How the story leaked

How did the Guardian latch onto the story? Did somebody at Apple blab? Did the Brits hack Hillary's e-mail server once the Chinese were done snooping? Inappreciably. They filed a public records request and got, along with other information, this snippet from Apple engineer Frank Fearon: "We would … like to get an agreement of timing and availability for the space, and how nosotros would demand to coordinate effectually other parties who would be using [GoMentum]."