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Apple self-driving car appears to be inching toward California’s freeways.
Representatives of the California Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed it met with Apple representatives to discuss the state’s autonomous vehicle regulations.
Apple’s senior legal counsel, Mike Maletic, held an hour-long meeting with one of the state’s experts on self-driving vehicles, DMV Deputy Director Bernard Soriano, according to The Guardian, which first reported the meeting.
The state agency is charged with developing regulations to ensure autonomous vehicles can operate safely on California’s streets and highways. It has been meeting with “many parties” interested in developing self-driving cars to gain a working understanding of how the technology is progressing, a spokesman said.
“The meeting with representatives from Apple focused on a discussion of the autonomous vehicle testing regulations that went into effect in September of 2014,” DMV spokesman Armando Botello said in an emailed statement.
Google already has a fleet of bubble-like self-driving cars tooling around California, and it hired the former chief executive of Hyundai Motor America to lead its efforts. And Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has been talking about autonomous vehicles since the inaugural Code conference. Uber recently hired a group of top robotics experts from Carnegie Mellon to further its work in this area.
Apple CEO Tim Cook deflected a question about the company’s work on an autonomous vehicle in an appearance earlier this week on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The comany declined a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
