Apple slashes 56 drivers from its autonomous vehicle testing program

At the beginning of the year, Apple hit a high point with 201 drivers registered for its autonomous vehicle testing. Now data from the California DMV shows that Apple has made a significant staffing change by eliminating 56 drivers from the pilot program.

Detailed by macReports, the amount of drivers Apple has hired to help with autonomous vehicle (AV) testing has grown consistently from just under 80 in the summer of 2021 to over 200 in early 2023.

Now Apple’s latest filing with the California DMV shows that it cut just over 25% of drivers with the number dropping from 201 to 145. That brings the count back to 2020-2021 numbers.

As for the number of cars registered for AV testing, that only decreased by one from 67 last time to 66 as of April 28. Apple still hasn’t applied with the DMV to do driverless AV testing like Waymo, Cruise, and Nuro.

Here’s a look at both metrics over time:

With the latest data in, here’s how Apple’s AV pilot program looks vs the competition:

As a refresher, Apple Car is still in the works but isn’t expected to arrive before 2026 and self-driving may have been scrapped for the first generation.