At the start of 2023, Apple had its largest staff ever of drivers registered to test its autonomous vehicles in California. Then in April, Apple cut the team back significantly. Now in the latest update on Apple’s autonomous vehicle efforts, the program has returned to adding drivers.
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In January 2023, Apple’s AV staff hit a peak of 201 drivers before seeing 56 of those positions cut this spring. That ended up being a 25% cut.
Spotted by macReports, the number of Apple’s registered drivers for its autonomous vehicle (AV) fleet has now increased by about 5% – going from 145 to 152 between April 28 and July 7.
With Apple reporting 152 drivers as of the July report, the staff size is in line with the company’s 2022 numbers and sits in the middle of the pack when compared to the other 10 companies testing autonomous vehicles in California.
As for the AV fleet, that has remained the same since the April report with 66 vehicles. Here’s a look at how all the auto manufacturer AV fleets compare in California:
A couple more interesting tidbits, at this time Apple has not applied for a driverless permit and Apple did have one collision reported since April. On May 11, one of its Lexus AV vehicles was rear-ended at a stop sign.
As a refresher, Apple Car is still in the works but isn’t expected to arrive before 2026 and self-driving may have been scrapped for the first generation.
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