Apple is secretly developing a self-driving car which is “almost ready for the road”, according to reports.
The tech giant is already scouting for secure locations to test the driverless vehicles, the Guardian has claimed.
The paper said the company has hundreds of engineers secretly working on the project and “seems to have a self-driving car almost ready for the road”.
Documents have emerged for the first time which confirm the existence of the long-rumoured scheme, it was claimed.
Google and car companies such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are already working on similar technologies, and received permits allowing them to test self-driving vehicles in California.
Now Apple is said to be looking at a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco in the US as a testing ground for the vehicles.
The site has previously been used for driverless car experiments by Mercedes-Benz and Honda.
Randy Iwasaki, executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, which owns the site, told the Guardian: “We had to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Apple.
“We can’t tell you anything other than they’ve come in and they’re interested.”
Apple declined to comment.