Rumor: Apple looking to acquire Drive.ai in effort to acquire engineering talent

An unconfirmed report has stated that Apple is acquiring Drive.ai in an effort to scoop up engineers from the self-driving startup.

According to The Information, Apple has offered the following statement regarding the possible purchase:

“Apple is in the process of acquiring a well-known but struggling self-driving shuttle firm, Drive.ai, for its engineering talent in order boost Apple’s own development of a self-driving vehicle system, according to two people briefed about the situation.The planned deal, described as an “acqui-hire” of the Silicon Valley firm by these people, could result in dozens of Drive.ai engineers ending up at Apple, one of the people said. Drive.ai, which has been running small pilot programs of its prototype shuttles in Texas, began seeking buyers for the company as early as February, as previously reported by The Information.”

In lieu of its standard boilerplate comment that “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple has offered the following comment regarding the purchase:

“We don’t comment on speculation.”

That suggests that, if the two companies are indeed in discussions, no agreement has yet been reached.

It’s unknown as to what Apple’s self-driving car plans are, as Apple has both increased and decreased the number of engineers working on Project Titan, the company’s autonomous driving effort.

The scale of Apple’s current self-driving car efforts has also varied, a recent DMV filing showing fewer Apple self-driving cars on the road.

Apple buying Drive.ai would indicate continued interest in the project, but still sheds no more light on its goals.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via 9to5Mac and The Information