Velodyne also has a new 16 laser head that works great on small UAVs nicknamed "The Puck". They are a pretty cool company having a line of fantastic audio components including some of the best subwoofers in the market. Their founder is a brilliant man who is constantly working on innovative technologies including a boat that can absorb 6 foot waves.
Other companies that successfully implemented Velodyne LiDAR heads for mobile mapping, Mandli Communications, Nokia/Here, Google, Facet-Tech, Topcon, and Microsoft.
Well now. There's some actual info. A rare commodity on these pages.
That's very interesting. Fun seeing the spec sheets for gadgets like this. Thanks!
Those vans don't appear to have the same kind of cameras and laser equipment that are used for mapping. Google and NavTeq have vans with big antennas and spinning lasers on top.
Also there's not much in common for the places where the vans of been seen -- Wisconsin, Northern California, Hawaii, Florida, Panama ...
I wonder if they are testing the reception of some kind of communication radio to replace cell phone radios.
That is because Apple is using newer technology then google, from what I seen of Google system it was stuff developed for the military in the early 2000's time frame. if you look the apple van does in fact have the spinning LIDAR system, Google had one large one and the Apple van has two smaller ones. and the are pointed at an angle toward the ground front and rear of the van.
From my understanding you do not need a LIDAR system to map roads and do street view all they need is the camera's and GPS. LIDAR is need to determine speed and distance to other objects. With that said I am not sure why Apple would be playing around with self driving vehicles other than to mess with Google and what they are doing.
This is for 3D street view maps. Apple mentioned this several years ago. Imagine flyover at street level. That is what they are doing with this equipment.
Velodyne also has a new 16 laser head that works great on small UAVs nicknamed "The Puck". They are a pretty cool company having a line of fantastic audio components including some of the best subwoofers in the market. Their founder is a brilliant man who is constantly working on innovative technologies including a boat that can absorb 6 foot waves.
Other companies that successfully implemented Velodyne LiDAR heads for mobile mapping, Mandli Communications, Nokia/Here, Google, Facet-Tech, Topcon, and Microsoft.
So if the 32 laser head is newer and Apple are using it (with Google using 64 lasers), what advantages in terms of data capture can Apple provide over Google's Street View? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about an Apple Street View equivalent, but how exactly would it be better?
How about this theory: Apple is developing an unmanned car for the purpose of collecting map data. And if that is successful, eventually produce a self-driving car? Kinda like how Apple TV has been a "hobby" for many years, and may or may not turn into something more.
Unfortunately the entire city is serviced with a water, power and and sewage system built in the 40s by the Army Corp of Engineers so it is vastly under capacity for the size of the city.
That's relatively new compared to the same in the major cities in the US.
The spinning sensors on the Apple van are different than those of the vertically-mounted ones on the Google vehicles.
The Apple ones are angled downward, as if to focus on the spaces in front and behind the vehicle. A mapping vehicle shouldn't really care much about that, more focused on capturing the scenery around the vehicle.
Curious.
Ha.. interesting. One problem with mappnig cameras is to remove all cars from the pictures.. Google don't seem to care. But I think that if you've got high speed sensors scanning the road close to your car, (we can assume that there's at least a few meters of gap to the next car) we could potentially get a car free scan of the road that you're on.. while the surrounding could be filled with cars and other objects. Of course it also makes sense for a self driving car to scan the closest surrounding really precise at a high refresh rate.
Hey,
I just got this idea on the car topic.
In order for Apple to go into the vehicle business.. I think they have to claim that they solved something. Like the big ugly rush hour, traffic jam situation that people driving alone in a car contribute to. Thinking about it, I think there is much much more to gain by putting MORE people into one vehicle, than to making smaller vehicles. So let's say the Apple Car is more like a public transport/ self driving taxi. Private sitizens do not own it. The community, or even Apple owns it. You specify where you wanna go in your app, and an Apple Car that's in the area, or that is on a route not too far off, will reroute and pick you up. It will know where you are with iPhone location service. It will fill up the car with passengers and let people off where they specify in their app, and probably never get empty. It will operate like a taxi, with multiple destinations, and pick customers that are roughly within the same route. This way they could contribute to less traffic on the roads, and more quality time while being transported.
Could this be a vision that Apple is going for?
Money-wise, in the long run, or even short term, i think there's more money in a "taxi" service, than selling vehicles. Especially when charging them with their own solar grid.
Down the street from me - Coral Springs, FL
Corner of Southgate Blvd and Coral Ridge Dr.
Facing south, turning onto Southgate and heading east.
I'd like to start seeing a collection of locations, license plates (and van color if license plate isn't readable) so we can have a better sense of how many of these vans are in the wild.
Comments
Wrong time and place for storm spotting.......LMAO
It's a mapping vehicle using two Velodyne HDL-32s on the front and back. Each head has 32 lasers spread over 40 degree field of view.
http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdldownloads/HDL-32E_datasheet.pdf
Google uses the older HDL-64 for it's autonomous cars. It has 64 lasers over a 26 degree spread.
http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/products/brochure/HDL-64E Data Sheet.pdf
Velodyne also has a new 16 laser head that works great on small UAVs nicknamed "The Puck". They are a pretty cool company having a line of fantastic audio components including some of the best subwoofers in the market. Their founder is a brilliant man who is constantly working on innovative technologies including a boat that can absorb 6 foot waves.
http://www.popsci.com/article/cars/inventor-rigs-unprecedentedly-smooth-ride-power-boats
Other companies that successfully implemented Velodyne LiDAR heads for mobile mapping, Mandli Communications, Nokia/Here, Google, Facet-Tech, Topcon, and Microsoft.
Well now. There's some actual info. A rare commodity on these pages.
That's very interesting. Fun seeing the spec sheets for gadgets like this. Thanks!
That is because Apple is using newer technology then google, from what I seen of Google system it was stuff developed for the military in the early 2000's time frame. if you look the apple van does in fact have the spinning LIDAR system, Google had one large one and the Apple van has two smaller ones. and the are pointed at an angle toward the ground front and rear of the van.
From my understanding you do not need a LIDAR system to map roads and do street view all they need is the camera's and GPS. LIDAR is need to determine speed and distance to other objects. With that said I am not sure why Apple would be playing around with self driving vehicles other than to mess with Google and what they are doing.
It's a mapping vehicle using two Velodyne HDL-32s on the front and back. Each head has 32 lasers spread over 40 degree field of view.
http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdldownloads/HDL-32E_datasheet.pdf
Google uses the older HDL-64 for it's autonomous cars. It has 64 lasers over a 26 degree spread.
http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/products/brochure/HDL-64E Data Sheet.pdf
Velodyne also has a new 16 laser head that works great on small UAVs nicknamed "The Puck". They are a pretty cool company having a line of fantastic audio components including some of the best subwoofers in the market. Their founder is a brilliant man who is constantly working on innovative technologies including a boat that can absorb 6 foot waves.
http://www.popsci.com/article/cars/inventor-rigs-unprecedentedly-smooth-ride-power-boats
Other companies that successfully implemented Velodyne LiDAR heads for mobile mapping, Mandli Communications, Nokia/Here, Google, Facet-Tech, Topcon, and Microsoft.
So if the 32 laser head is newer and Apple are using it (with Google using 64 lasers), what advantages in terms of data capture can Apple provide over Google's Street View? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about an Apple Street View equivalent, but how exactly would it be better?
That's relatively new compared to the same in the major cities in the US.
Automobile registration information can be obtained from police and the California DMV by people who have a private investigators license.
Satisfying the curiosity of people on an news program or internet forum would, I suspect, not be a legitimate use of that license.
The spinning sensors on the Apple van are different than those of the vertically-mounted ones on the Google vehicles.
The Apple ones are angled downward, as if to focus on the spaces in front and behind the vehicle. A mapping vehicle shouldn't really care much about that, more focused on capturing the scenery around the vehicle.
Curious.
Ha.. interesting. One problem with mappnig cameras is to remove all cars from the pictures.. Google don't seem to care. But I think that if you've got high speed sensors scanning the road close to your car, (we can assume that there's at least a few meters of gap to the next car) we could potentially get a car free scan of the road that you're on.. while the surrounding could be filled with cars and other objects. Of course it also makes sense for a self driving car to scan the closest surrounding really precise at a high refresh rate.
Hey,
I just got this idea on the car topic.
In order for Apple to go into the vehicle business.. I think they have to claim that they solved something. Like the big ugly rush hour, traffic jam situation that people driving alone in a car contribute to. Thinking about it, I think there is much much more to gain by putting MORE people into one vehicle, than to making smaller vehicles. So let's say the Apple Car is more like a public transport/ self driving taxi. Private sitizens do not own it. The community, or even Apple owns it. You specify where you wanna go in your app, and an Apple Car that's in the area, or that is on a route not too far off, will reroute and pick you up. It will know where you are with iPhone location service. It will fill up the car with passengers and let people off where they specify in their app, and probably never get empty. It will operate like a taxi, with multiple destinations, and pick customers that are roughly within the same route. This way they could contribute to less traffic on the roads, and more quality time while being transported.
Could this be a vision that Apple is going for?
Money-wise, in the long run, or even short term, i think there's more money in a "taxi" service, than selling vehicles. Especially when charging them with their own solar grid.
Corner of Southgate Blvd and Coral Ridge Dr.
Facing south, turning onto Southgate and heading east.
I'd like to start seeing a collection of locations, license plates (and van color if license plate isn't readable) so we can have a better sense of how many of these vans are in the wild.