Tim Cook Says Apple Is Officially Developing Self-Driving Tech

Apple has been back and forth on the promise of a self-driving car. Though "Project Titan" – a self-driving vehicle engineering entirely by Apple – is mostly dead in the water, the California company is reportedly still moving forward on bringing the technology to market, one way or another.

In a new interview with Bloomberg, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple engineers are officially exploring and developing technology for self-driving cars. "We're focusing on autonomous systems," said Cook. "It's a core technology that we view as very important." Cook said the technology is "the mother of all AI projects," and that it's "probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on."

The news comes just a few months after Director of Product Integrity, Steve Kenner, outlined a vision for development and testing of autonomous cars on public roads in an open letter to the NHTSA. The letter stated that "the company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation."

But Apple isn't the only tech company on the move in the race for full autonomy. Google's Waymo just recently began rolling out self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans on the streets of Arizona, while Uber continues to test its autonomous Volvo XC90s on public roads in California.

Cook didn't give a timeline as to when the technology will be ready for public roads. "We'll see where it takes us," he said, "we're not really saying from a product point of view what we will do."