Apple Reevaluating its Plans to Build a Self-Driving Car

Apple confirmed on Friday that the company is "rethinking" its automotive strategy AP news reported.

Citing new reports from the New York Times and Bloomberg News, the AP news said that Apple's initial foray to design its own driverless car have been beset by leadership problems and technical delays.

According to AP, the struggles of Apple have been mentioned by auto industry experts in the past saying that "building a car is an incredibly complex challenge for any company, even one with the engineering prowess of Apple. Automobile manufacture also poses more regulatory and legal issues than building an iPhone or a computer."

Nonetheless, silicon valley giants have continued to pour billions of dollars into the driverless automotive sector.

Apple, Google, Uber and other firms are racing the clock to see who can develop first a commercially viable software that can help manage - at least - the information and entertainment systems inside cars.

Google has long made public that it's also working on self-driving technology, but says that it is more likely to partner with an established automaker.

AP said that according to analysts, tech companies want to be involved in automobiles because they want people to keep using their products and services, even while driving. Meanwhile, most of the leading auto-makers have opened research labs in Silicon Valley, in part to work on the software and the physical systems - including sensors and other components - that are needed for autonomous driving.