Apple now has 55 self-driving cars in California
San Francisco, May 15: With 55 self-driving cars and 83 drivers, Apple now has the second highest number of self-driving cars in the US state of California where autonomous vehicles are being tested.
The Cupertino-based tech giant had 45 self-driving cars until late March.
"Apple has the second highest number of self-driving cars after General Motor's Cruise, which has 104 vehicles as of now," MacReports reported late on Monday.
"Apple grew from 3 to 45 between April 2017 and March 2018 and now this number has increased to 55," the report added.
Behind Apple is Alphabet's Waymo which currently has 51 self-driving vehicles and Elon Musk-owned Tesla which has 39 cars.
Currently, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has provided permits to 53 companies for self-driving cars that include safety drivers, resulting in a total of 409 vehicles and 1,573 safety drivers in the US.
As of now, the DMV has not issued any permits for complete driverless testing because for that to happen, companies must have to have a pre-testing of the vehicles in controlled conditions.
"The DMV is currently reviewing two driverless testing permit applications," a DMV spokesperson reportedly told TechCrunch.
Code-named "Project Titan", Apple's self-driving programme's fleet is reportedly made up of Lexus RX450h SUVs, each of which is fitted with huge racks of LIDAR and radar sensors as well as cameras.
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Siddaramaiah defends BPL ration card cancellation, says only ineligible beneficiaries affected
New Delhi, Nov 21: In a strong defence of the Karnataka government's move to cancel ration cards, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday clarified that only government employees and income tax payers are being weeded out from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list, not eligible poor beneficiaries.
Talking to reporters, Siddaramaiah asserted that the cancellation is in line with the National Food Security Act, which explicitly bars government employees and income tax payers from receiving BPL ration cards.
He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of raising a politically motivated issue despite originally opposing the food security legislation.
"The rights of eligible ration card holders will be fully protected," the chief minister emphasised, dismissing opposition claims that the move was linked to fund constraints for implementing poll promises.
ALSO READ: Karnataka to reissue BPL cards for eligible families: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
The controversy stems from the Karnataka government's recent survey identifying 22.63 lakh BPL card-holders as ineligible. This move has triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and the BJP.
Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi claimed the central government had directed the state to clean the beneficiary lists. He alleged that the card cancellation was a strategy to avoid implementing the state's Gruha Lakshmi Yojana scheme.
Siddaramaiah hit back, reminding that the food security law was introduced during the Manmohan Singh government in 2013 to protect poor citizens' interests. He criticised the BJP for previously reducing food grain allocation from seven kg to five kg per beneficiary during B S Yediyurappa's tenure.
The chief minister categorically stated that there would be no compromise on the five poll guarantees and that sufficient funds were available for their implementation.
Siddaramaiah was in the national capital for the launch of Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd's Nandini brands in Delhi. He also met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the issue of farm loan.
