Is Object-Avoidance In Apple's Patent Application A Hint Of Auto-Pilot Car Plans?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s latest patent filling adds further conviction that the company remains serious in entering the autonomous driving space.

As noted by Apple Insider, Apple's latest patent of a basic collision avoidance system could "serve as the underpinnings of a self-driving car telemetry solution."

The Patent In Focus

Apple's patent is titled "Collision Avoidance Of Arbitrary Polygonal Obstacles." Simply put, the patent covers a system of machine learning technologies that is capable of avoiding collisions and can navigate in an environment without prior knowledge of said environment. Apple's technology is able to update a vehicle's view of its environment as often as 60 times a second and can detect multiple obstacles.

Significance Of Patent

Although the company recently announced it is scaling back its ambitions in the autonomous driving space, the latest patent signals this may not necessarily be the case.

Cult of Mac suggested that Apple's secretive car project has now become more transparent and open than ever before. The blog further added that the patent could be seen as another public acknowledgement that the company is indeed "very much" in the autonomous driving space.

Shares of Apple were trading higher by more than 1 percent on Friday, and the stock's outperformance relative to the broader indices appears to signal that investors are optimistic on the company's future in the autonomous driving space.

At last check, Apple shares were up 1.9 percent on the day at $114.25.