The California DMV today released new disengagement and mileage reports for self-driving vehicles that are being tested in the state, giving us some insight into Apple's progression on its self-driving vehicle software.
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Over the course of 2020, vehicles equipped with Apple's self-driving technology traveled a total of 18,805 miles in California, up from the 7,544 miles traveled in 2019. There were a total of 130 disengagements, up from 64 last year, but that's not a surprise considering the increase in mileage. Apple's cars experienced a disengagement every 144.6 miles, which is a better metric than 2019 where there was a disengagement every 117.8 miles.
All companies that are testing self-driving vehicles in California are required to file annual disengagement reports providing details on how many times a vehicle disengages and gives control back to the safety driver, or the number of times a safety driver in the vehicle takes over.
Companies must also report total mileage covered by self-driving cars and provide details on any accidents when they occur, but Apple hasn't had a recent accident. The last collision an Apple vehicle experienced was in 2019.
Apple has been testing its self-driving software since early 2017 using Lexus RX450h SUVs outfitted with a host of sensors and cameras as it works on Apple Car hardware. All of the vehicles are piloted by a pair of drivers at all times even when in autonomous driving mode
Top Rated Comments
One could argue that "better" disengagement stats mean they're not pushing the technology hard enough.
There's nothing Self Driving about these cars except the name.