Apple reportedly met with California DMV officials last month to discuss autonomous vehicles. According to records obtained by MacReports, Apple’s head of product integrity Steve Kenner attended the meeting with several DMV executives…
The meeting was purportedly requested by deputy director of the DMV Bernard Soriano, who was joined by five over executives when the time for the meeting came.
- Jean Shiomoto (Director)
- William Davidson (Chief Deputy Director)
- Brian Soublet (Deputy Director and Chief Counsel)
- Emily Bisnett (Attorney)
- Alexandra Lake (Executive Fellow)
At this point, it’s unclear who other than Steve Kenner attended the meeting on Apple’s behalf. The meeting was held at Apple’s 1 Infinite Loop campus.
According to the records, the meeting was scheduled to last 2 hours, with today’s report claiming that the subject of the meeting was autonomous vehicles. Beyond that, it’s unclear what was discussed, though a followup email from Soriano to Kenner mentioned the EPN program, which is California process related to driver safety and testing.
Steve Kenner joined Apple after a stint at Ford. Apple refers to him as its head of product integrity, though his name has appeared on a handful of autonomous driving-related documents.
The meeting between Apple and the California DMV shouldn’t necessarily come as a huge surprise. Past reports have indicated that the company has met with officials before and is testing self-driving vehicles in the state.
Apple’s interest in the car industry has been a hot button topic over the last few years. Most recently, however, it was reported that Apple was moving away from creating a car itself, but rather focusing on building technology for a car that someone else builds.
Today’s report indicates that Apple is still likely actively working on its self-driving technology, but beyond that, a lot is still unclear.
