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Heavy security presence and lot of noise around Apple’s rumored car testing facility in Sunnyvale

68 sunnyvalle

It’s kind of an “open-secret” in the auto and tech industries that Apple is developing an electric vehicle codenamed “Project Titan”, yet for the most part, the Cupertino-based company has been able to keep details under wraps.

In helping keep any development secret, Apple is believed to be using a shell company called Sixty Eight Research based in Sunnyvale, California. Neighbors have recently been reporting heavy security presence and a lot of noise around the location. 

A local news crew reported on the disturbance earlier this week, and since then the security has reportedly relaxed around the facility.

But neighbors told KPIX 5 that the level of security was becoming disturbing:

“At three in the morning, they have deliveries. It’s very dark, very secretive. We don’t know what’s going on, but almost every night there is noise that wakes the dogs up,” Joann Porter said.

Neighbors on Bartlett Avenue near the facility said security guards tail them when they walk their dogs. “You have security guards following you in their cars,” Porter said.

Porter added that she was hearing the sound of metal sheets slamming and clanking all day, but also a sound described as a ‘high-pitched hum”, which sometimes could be heard all day.

The news crew didn’t catch the sound while filming but Jim Porter imitated it on camera, see the video below, and it could fit the description of the sound an electric motor makes when being pushed to its limits.

In 2014, the Sunnyvale City Manager said that Apple was granted a building permit for “an auto testing facility.”

Here’s the news report from KPIX 5:

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Apple has registered three car-related domain names that hint at its electric car project, while last month, the Apple veteran employee who has been overseeing the program reportedly left the company.

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Comments

  1. RicardoTuga - 8 years ago

    “off topic”, but why one Mac centric site uses flash for videos?
    Apple abandoned and buried the adobe flash plugin for a long time now. Hilarious!

    • ytsethunder - 8 years ago

      Worked on my iPhone

      • RicardoTuga - 8 years ago

        In safari for OS X (for me) requires installation of flash…not so good…

    • jc5680 - 8 years ago

      It is an embedded video from a third party site. This site plays no role in deciding it’s delivery method.

    • twelve01 - 8 years ago

      The video clip was produced by a local news station, not 9to5Mac. So, complain to them.

  2. freerange5 - 8 years ago

    Seems to me the most annoying thing in the neighborhood is that lady and barking dog! It’s real simple lady, teach your dog not to bark – you can do that easily with an electronic collar. If I were her neighbor I’d be calling the cops on her.

  3. larry bic (@larbic) - 8 years ago

    Three things: 1. Hello? Apple has a building permit for an automobile testing facility. So, it’s not “rumored” is it? And the neighbors, if they have a problem with it, they should have paid attention to the city planning process way back when and now if they’re concerned they can call city hall. 2. The neighbors should be happy they have such a secure neighborhood to walk their dogs. 3. In case anyone doesn’t know this, you can change your browser agent to spoof an iOS device and Flash is (often) replaced by Mac-friendly hazard-free HTML5 video. And you can always have Flash and turn it off and on as needed. Or just fuggetaboutit.

    • dcj001 - 8 years ago

      “you can change your browser agent to spoof an iOS device and Flash is (often) replaced by Mac-friendly hazard-free HTML5 video.”

      I did that, and the result is – Please install the latest Adobe Flash Player Plugin to watch this content.

  4. twelve01 - 8 years ago

    This story really didn’t tell us much. 1) Two of the neighbors cited noise, yet the city official noted no record of filed complaints. I suspect if this was a huge disturbance, a couple complaints at a minimum would’ve been filed. 2) Neighbors can be a pain in the ass. Our complain about everything. 3) Dogs wake up and bark at odd hours all the time. Ours will bark at the slightest of sounds, usually from something barely audible to me. It’s kind of their thing.

Author

Avatar for Fred Lambert Fred Lambert

Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek. He sometimes contributes to 9to5mac and 9to5Google.