Apple Buys Drive.ai: What Does The Autonomous Vehicle Purchase Mean For Apple?

Apple (APPL) has been in the market to purchase an autonomous vehicle company, and it has made the deal happen with the acquisition of Drive.ai.

Startup Drive.ai was just days away from closing its doors as it had filed a notice with the state of California, stating that it planned to shutter the business and layoff its 90 workers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Apple purchased Drive.ai for $77 million in venture funding, CNBC reported. The purchase was valued at a $200 million valuation, according to Pitchbook data. Apple purchased the startup along with hiring dozens of its engineers and assets, Axios reported.

The deal follows Apple’s recent employee layoffs under its Project Titan car venture, which it said was a restructuring of the project. Apple has been producing autonomous vehicles and is currently testing Lexus SUVs in California with a driver behind the wheel for safety, CNBC reported.

Drive.ai was founded in 2015 by a team of machine-learning researchers at Stamford University. The company had partnered with the city of Arlington, Texas, to operate autonomous shuttles in the area.

The deal may allow Apple to move its Project Titan forward with a new cadre of engineers while boosting confidence with its existing team of engineers on its commitment to the autonomous vehicle technology.

Shares of Apple stock were up 2.61 percent as of 12:50 p.m. ET on Wednesday.