The autonomous driving landscape continues to expand, Waymo acquires Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) car testing field for $220 million.

Property records disclosed by Maricopa County show that Alphabet's (GOOGL.US) autonomous driving company Waymo has spent $220 million to acquire a 5,500-acre self-driving car testing facility in Wittmann, Arizona from Route 14 Investment Partners, a Delaware entity associated with Apple Inc. (AAPL.US). The transaction was registered on June 5. Waymo has confirmed the acquisition to the media. This site will significantly enhance Waymo's testing capabilities, with amenities including a 115-acre urban driving training area, a 35-acre vehicle dynamics testing area, a 4-mile long high-speed oval track, and a highway simulation segment specifically designed for autonomous driving testing. A Waymo spokesperson stated that the facility will be used to simulate driving scenarios in a controlled environment, in order to continuously test and improve the performance of their autonomous driving system. This Arizona testing site becomes the largest enclosed testing site in Waymo's network, complementing existing facilities such as the Castle testing site in California and the Transportation Research Center in Ohio. Apple Inc. had purchased the property in 2021 for $125 million. Prior to this, Apple Inc. had leased the site for many years for their now discontinued electric car project, the "Titan program". The facility was previously used by Fiat Chrysler as a testing base. This acquisition comes as Waymo continues to expand its commercial autonomous taxi service in Phoenix and Maricopa County. The company began testing autonomous vehicles in the suburbs of Chandler in Phoenix in 2017, and has since expanded its service to over a dozen U.S. cities including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, and Atlanta.