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Apple's automotive ambitions might finally come to life near its sprawling new HQ, but we shouldn't expect to see an Apple Car anytime soon. The company's long-rumored Project Titan vehicle will instead debut in the form of a shuttle bus for Apple employees, according to a New York Timesreport.

The Apple Car was an exciting potential not too long ago, but the hype wore off after the leaks about new prestige hires, regulatory meetings, and forward momentum morphed into reports of false starts, layoffs, and finally a shift in focus to an aftermarket self-driving system for auto manufacturers. Apple is still entering the autonomous car race, but it's nothing like we expected.

The self-driving shuttle service will be one of the first real-world tests of that new system, according to the New York Times report, which cites five anonymous people familiar with Project Titan. Those sources shared some juicy details about Titan's initiatives that went nowhere, like a literal reinvention of the wheel, but they claim the shuttle service is where the Apple will begin its real world application of those efforts.

This type of pilot program isn't out of place in the nascent self-driving spac. For example, Google spin-off Waymo operates a public shuttle service of its own in Arizona, and GM's Cruise debuted a similar employee-facing system in San Francisco earlier this month — but it is a far cry from the original reports of Apple's plans to make its own vehicles to disrupt the auto industry. Instead of the Apple Car, we're more likely to see an over-glorified Apple Bus.

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The new test vehicles will probably be commercial vehicles from a partner automaker outfitted with Apple's autonomous system, according to the report. The actual shuttle service, dubbed PAIL (Palo Alto to Infinite Loop), will ferry company personnel between Apple's main campus and other offices around the Palo Alto area.

Back in April, the California DMV granted Apple permission to test its autonomous system in three Lexus RX540h SUVs on the state's roads, one of which was reportedly spotted out in the wild — but the rumored shuttle service will probably look more like the University of Michigan's MCity shuttle program launching this school year.

The fixed routes between facilities will conceivably give Apple a chance to collect reams of precious on-road data to fine-tune the autonomous system, while the Lexus vehicles will likely allow for a wider range of testing on a different scale.

The report didn't mention any timelines, so it's not clear exactly when the shuttle service might start.

Apple reps declined to comment when we reached out abouy the report, which is unsurprising given the company's policy to stay mum on product rumors. We won't get official confirmation about a shuttle service until it hits the roads of Cupertino.

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TopicsAppleSelf-Driving Cars