Today, autonomous vehicles are a hot topic of discussion.

The automotive industry is one field where technology is progressing at a breakneck pace. Innovation is at the heart of the automobile industry, from advances in renewable technology to forward automatic braking in luxury cars. Autonomous vehicles are now a hot topic of discussion. These self-driving cars, in essence, use a massive range of sensors to understand the world around them and use that knowledge to maneuver through the roads to your location without the need for human assistance.

One of the critical reasons for the introduction of autonomous or self-driving vehicles is the ability to drastically lower the amount of traffic incidents, some of which are serious. Human error is unavoidable in life, but when it happens behind the wheel of a car, it can have devastating consequences, which driverless cars are designed to prevent.

But what is an autonomous vehicle?

An autonomous vehicle is one which uses various in-vehicle technologies and sensors, such as adaptive cruise control, automatic steering, anti-lock brakes, GPS navigation systems, radar, and sensors, to navigate itself from a baseline to a designated location in "autopilot" phase.

Apple CEO Tim Cook drop hints on "Autonomous Cars"

It has come to light that, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a few indications about the future of the much-anticipated Apple car in an interview released on Monday, along with the fact that autonomous vehicle technology will probably be a key element.

According to TechXplore, talk of an autonomous vehicle bearing the Apple brand has long been among rumors swirling around the iPhone maker, which has remained tight-lipped about its plans for the market. "An autonomous car is a robot and so there are a lots of things you can do with autonomy; we will see what Apple does," Cook said during a Sway podcast with Kara Swisher. "We love to integrate hardware, software and services, and find the intersection points of those because we think that's where the magic occurs."

Apple appears to be more interested in building an autonomous-driving technology platform than in developing a vehicle, based on what he said. Having that said, it is correct that the business has always had a strong manufacturing focus. It is not really shocking to learn that the Apple car will be designed by the company's own engineers.

Republic World mentioned that, earlier this year, strong rumors were floating around about Apple being in talks with Japan-based Nissan and South Korea-based Hyundai and Kia for building the Apple car. According to sources close to Apple, the company wants to work with an automaker that will let them hold the gear on every software and hardware that will go into the making of the car. But the deal eventually fell apart in February and everything came back to square one. At this point, it is difficult to know when will Apple car come out or what it will look like but it seems like the car will be going up against Musk's Tesla.

To put it shortly, they also added that, Apple has been actively working on Project Titan that is being led by Doug Field, former Senior Vice President of Engineering at Tesla. Tim Cook's recent interview suggests the possibility of Apple being the manufacturer and the car incorporating autonomous driving systems. Lastly, the car has plans of being a strong contender for Tesla in the EV space.