One of the words that’s most commonly associated with Apple’s self-driving car program is “secretive.” Unlike most of its competitors, Apple has been frustratingly tight-lipped regarding the self-driving cars it’s testing in California. On Wednesday, the company had an opportunity to pull back the curtain on the so-called “Project Titan” with the release of its voluntary safety report to federal regulators. But, unsurprisingly, the smartphone giant is still keeping the most tantalizing details under wraps.

Apple’s report is almost comically short: seven pages, compared to an average length of 39 pages from the other companies who have submitted reports. In it, Apple describes its interest in self-driving systems in broad, world-saving terms, but it’s noticeably mum on practically every key detail surrounding the project. There’s nothing on future deployments or commercial applications for the technology. There aren’t any photos or renderings to pad the length of the report, like other companies have done.

Apple’s report is almost comically short

Of course, this isn’t Apple’s fault, really. Rather, it’s on the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for making these disclosures completely voluntary. The Obama administration was the first to request voluntary safety reports from companies that are testing self-driving cars; the Trump administration relaxed the rules even further, arguing anything that could remotely be construed as mandatory could stifle innovation. As a result, the reports have become reflections of how much (or, in Apple’s case, how little) the individual companies feel like broadcasting their self-driving message.

The initial reports from Waymo, Ford, and GM were more like glossy marketing brochures than anything else. Generally, they lack relevant statistics, like fleet size, total miles driven, and disengagement rates (the number of times the vehicle’s software forced a human safety driver to take over the operation of the vehicle). Moreover, there’s no system in place at the federal or state level for independent certification of the technology. We just have to take them at their word.

Apple’s Project Titan has been in flux almost since its inception

Apple’s Project Titan has been in flux almost since its inception. After reportedly beginning with the aim of developing a purpose-built self-driving car, the plans were later scaled back to just developing software, with Apple partnering with car manufacturers such as Volkswagen to provide the hardware. Last month, an Apple employee who is a Chinese citizen was accused by the FBI of attempting to steal trade secrets related to the company’s autonomous car project. It was the second time the government has charged an Apple employee for trying to steal self-driving secrets in the last seven months. Apple also recently laid off about 200 employees from the project.

The changes are relatively small, given that as many as 5,000 people were either working on the project or had access to its details as of July last year. Confirming the restructuring, Apple said that former Titan employees will “support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple.” It described the project’s focus as “autonomous systems” rather than vehicles. This echoed comments from CEO Tim Cook, which suggested that its focus has expanded beyond cars. Apple described the initiative as “the most ambitious machine learning project ever.”

That is also reflected in the safety report. “We are investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and we are excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation,” the company says in the introduction. Apple’s self-driving cars are tested on a closed-course proving ground as well in simulation before meeting its standards for road-readiness.

“We are investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation.”

Still, there isn’t much in the report that we didn’t already know or could have at least assumed. Much of what’s known about Apple’s testing program has come from media leaks, court documents, and mandatory state-level disclosures like California’s much-maligned disengagement reports. Those reports, which dropped last week, revealed that Apple has significantly increased the number of miles driven autonomously. Overall, the company reported 80,739 miles driven and 76,585 disengagements during a reporting period that stretched from April 2017 through November 2018.

Apple noted that it initially separated disengagements into two categories: manual takeovers and software disengagements, and it had 40,198 of the former and 36,359 of the latter through June 2018. Starting in July, though, it completely changed how it reported disengagements. Following its new methodology from July 2018 forward, Apple reported 28 “important disengagements” over 56,135 miles, a rate of one per every 2,005 miles driven.

This ambiguity around disengagements has led many experts to dismiss the California reports as completely meaningless. But at least there is data that can be tracked over time. They are imperfect, but they’re better than nothing. The same can’t be said for these voluntary safety reports.