Apple has bought autonomous car startup Drive.ai, according to a report by CNBC. The purchase will add engineers to the company’s ranks, along with other individuals who have knowledge about the technology and how it works.
The purchase price isn’t known, but Axios is reporting that Apple probably paid less than the $77 million Drive.ai raised in venture capital. The company recently had a $200 million valuation.
The self-driving startup had recently filed a notice in California about plans to close the business and lay off its workers, which numbered around 90. It had also teamed up with the city of Arlington in Texas for a self-driving shuttle service.
In January, Apple made cuts to its Project Titan car endeavor, and let 200 employees go. Apple called the cuts restructuring at the time. Apple is also testing Lexus SUVs with autonomous tech in California, but the cars have a driver behind the wheel.
In other Apple News, the company has expanded the test phase of its credit card with Goldman Sachs to its retail employees, according to a report by Bloomberg. The company, which has tens of thousands of retail workers, launched an internal beta program for the Apple Card, and it is the first major trial for the upcoming product, set to launch publicly in the summer.
The group using the card, despite the size of the workforce, will be a controlled one, and the workers were asked to not talk about the card, even though they’re allowed to use it publicly. The card can be used directly from the iPhone, though there’s also a physical card available, too. The physical card has a sharp-looking metal design.
Goldman Sachs takes care of the payment processing, credit obligations, disputes and customer service for the card. In addition, Apple is already discussing expanding the card into Europe.
