Apple’s (AAPL) Self-Driving Test Vehicle Suffers First Crash

Apple AAPL recently announced the first accident of its autonomous test vehicle that took place on Aug 24, in Santa Clara, Cupertino near Apple’s headquarters.

A Lexus RX450h, which was being used as a test vehicle was moving at 1 mile per hour (mph) when it collided with a 2016 Nissan Leaf, which was moving at 15 mph. The test vehicle was “rear-ended while preparing to merge onto Lawrence Expressway South from Kifer Road.” However, no injuries were reported by any of the parties.

Moreover, the initial submissions stated that Apple was not at fault for the accident. This might work in favor of the company’s ongoing efforts related to driver-less vehicles.

Notably, news about Apple’s autonomous vehicle related initiative named “Project Titan” had been doing the rounds since 2014–2015. The company received permission to test autonomous vehicles on California public roads in 2017 and currently has around 66 test vehicles on the streets.

Last November, Apple released a research report that briefly talked about a technology that in spite of using fewer sensors will enable self-driving cars to better detect cyclists and pedestrians.

Apple has signed a deal with Volkswagen, per which the latter’s T6 Transporter vans will be turned into autonomous shuttles for its own employees.

In early August, the company hired Doug Field for Project Titan. Notably, Field worked at Tesla TSLA as the senior vice president of engineering. We note that Doug had been the vice president of Mac hardware engineering at Apple before he joined Tesla in 2013.

In June, Apple appointed Jaime Waydo, a senior engineer from Alphabet’s GOOGL self-driving project, Waymo. The addition of these two big names is expected to speed up the company’s efforts to launch its self-driving car.

In a recent article, MacRumors quoted long-time Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who stated that the company is on track to launch Apple Car between 2023 and 2025. This is expected to aid this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company in reaching $2 trillion in market valuation.

Key Pick

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) is a stock in the technology sector which is worth considering. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The long-term earnings growth rate for Amazon is projected to be 26.5%.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.

With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

It's not the one you think.

See This Ticker Free >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.