Apple chief: driverless car venture is ‘the mother of all AI projects’

Tim Cook confirms tech giant is working on 'autonomous systems', but is tight-lipped on whether it is making its own vehicle

Apple has shed new light on its top-secret driverless car project, as chief executive Tim Cook described the challenge of building autonomous vehicles as "the mother of all" artificial intelligence projects.

Cook said Apple was ploughing resources into developing technology to control driverless vehicles, although he refused to rule out the Silicon Valley firm building its own car at some point. The Apple boss spoke as shares in his company and other US tech firms came under pressure this week amid investor concerns that a sector-wide boom is losing steam.