The Guardian has received documents detailing Apple's self-driving car, codenamed Project Titan.
According to reports on the newspaper's website, the tech giant is appealing for secure locations in San Francisco's bay area to test its vehicle.
The Guardian requested information under the Public Records Act and received a response from Apple engineer Frank Fearon who wrote: "We would ... like to get an understanding of timing and availability for the space, and how we would need to coordinate around other parties who would be using [it]."
Three months ago, Apple engineers met with officials from GoMeentum Station, a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco, to discuss whether the company could securely test its self-driving car at the facility.
Apple wouldn't be the first to use the base, which comprises 20 miles of tarmacked roads and city streets for the urband and suburban driving experience testing, as both Mercedes-Benz and Honda have tested their driverless vehicles there too.
However, Apple has declined to comment on whether it will be using the location to test its next invention.
Apple-related driverless vehicle rumours have been circulating or quite some time, with news of its attempts surfacing back in February. A "senior auto industry source familiar with the discussions" told Reuters that Apple has plans to build an entire car rather than just implementing the technology in other vehicles.
"Fully automated driving is an evolution. Carmakers will slowly build the market for autonomous cars by first releasing connected and partially automated cars. Apple is interested in all the potential ways you can evolve the car; that includes autonomous driving," the source said.
However, there are still rumours that the company could tie up with another car-maker, such as Tesla. Conversations between the two companies happened back in 2013, but nothing came of them according to Tesla's CEO Elon Musk.
Image credit: LPY974 on Flickr
