We'd all love a seismic leap in battery life, so this is understandable. Does it have to be only car-related, or is the technology similar to that used for our idevices?
Based on their website it seems mostly automotive related.
- “There are products that we’re working on that no one knows about, that haven’t been rumored about yet” Chief Executive Tim Cook told interviewer Charlie Rose in September.
Maybe it's for "above street level" mapping for a low flying vehicle or hover vehicle. Similar to Google Street View, but more detailed to capture low level obstacles and exact dimensions of streets for easier navigation.
We may never know, but I think the most likely solution is Street View-esqe mapping with a FlyOver look and feel.
It is pretty obvious that it is 3D mapping. They can use it for a better than Streetview service. They also can use this data for self driving cars in the future. No point jumping to the second conclusion directly. We should see street level 3D maps before self driving cars.
It's a mapping vehicle but the data that it is capturing is rich enough to be used in the creation of an autonomous vehicle base map. The way the system is configured, they have the ability to collect a 3D model that has a relative precision of 1 inch. Other companies use similar methods for collecting asset data for state departments of transportation. The visualizations that can be created from this kind of data is amazing. With the technological abilities and ecosystem that Apple has, they would have the ability to create a fluid 3D virtual reality of all the roads that they are recording.
This website shows some of the potential of the technology
I'd guess that these vehicles are just part of a large effort to improve Apple's mapping project. At the same time, it's probably true that Apple is working on some automotive project as well. These minivans probably have nothing to do with Apple's automotive project. The discovery of one project has probably tipped out people to leak the other.
Who know's if we'll ever see a Apple Car, but it won't be for several years if we do. These minivans are probably totally unrelated to that.
It is interesting that this 'secret' Apple project is the most visible Apple project ever, and yet we just do not have a clue.
For my money Apple is and has been working on a car (some form of personal transportation) for a long time, but whatever we will see first in terms of a tangible product will not be the final deal. If Apple is working on high res street level mapping for instance, I would assume that to be a step towards a more ambitious plan which is dependent upon the success of the former to become a reality.
The photos, sent in by <em>AppleInsider</em> reader Jason, were captured in a parking lot in Richmond, Calif., an area located at the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area...
I work in Richmond, CA. better known as "The Iron Triangle". It was (and still might be) rated as one of the most violent cities in the US. I would classify Richmond as being more an armpit than the heart of the Bay Area.
If you have no reason to go to Richmond, don't.
Point Richmond is kind of an exception, due to it being right alongside the bay. Everywhere else is gangbanger land.
I wonder why that van was there? Maybe picking up some company by the hour?
The more I think about it, the more ridiculous the concept of Apple actually getting to the car industry seems. It's just a massive pain in the ass. Whatever they're doing, it's to enhance their current services.
I like how AI keeps referring to these vehicles as "testbeds," to keep the drum beating on the Apple Car rumors. If Apple's using them for gathering map data, as has always seemed most likely, then they're not testing anything; they're just gathering data.
I wonder how often Tim Cook shakes his head in wonder at how fast the internet is to turn fragments of misinterpreted information into a myth about Apple's intentions.
<p>I like how AI keeps referring to these vehicles as "testbeds," to keep the drum beating on the Apple Car rumors. If Apple's using them for gathering map data, as has always seemed most likely, then they're not testing anything; they're just gathering data. </p><p> </p><p>I wonder how often Tim Cook shakes his head in wonder at how fast the internet is to turn fragments of misinterpreted information into a myth about Apple's intentions. </p>
I doubt Tim is shaking his head. He's more likely sitting in a Chesterfield slowly stroking a white cat, chuckling! !!!
Call me stupid but these vans look like the van the vans that Google used for mapping. What's all the hysteria about Apple improving it's mapping technology?
I don't doubt for a second that this is a project to build a 3D street view, *but* I think it's really important to remember that current driverless cars requires huge amounts of highly accurate street level spatial information. You can't just point them blindly down a city road-- they need a spatial model of the area they're driving through that they can then compare against what the car "sees". So in other words: while a 3D street view would be a cool feature on a phone, it also happens to be a downright requirement for a driverless car.
Does this mean Apple is building a driverless car? Obviously not. But only a couple companies in the world can justify driving a car down every street, and if all cars will be driverless cars in the future, it makes a whole lot of sense to start collecting that data. Maybe it's so they can partner with Tesla, or maybe it's so that car makers don't cede their car's platform to Google, but it seems really unlikely that anyone today would build a 3D map of every street and not be planning for driverless cars somehow.
If there are two possibilities to explain something, the obvious one and a conspiracy theory, a lot of people jump on the second one. Must be their boring lifes or it's a government driven plan to....
Comments
Based on their website it seems mostly automotive related.
http://www.a123systems.com/index.htm
Could the lidar be used to fix the melted trees in 3d view?
It won't work in the US.
Even if this were the name, there would be no space.
I'll add one more fact: two Apple designers previously worked as car designers.
Julian Höenig designed cars for Audi and Lamborghini. http://www.julianhoenig.com/art/about_files/web_resume02.09.pdf
Aaron von Minden previously worked at BMW Designworks.
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/aaron-von-minden/6/55b/569
Neither of these are new Apple hires so there's zero evidence they were hired specifically because of their background in vehicle design.
This website shows some of the potential of the technology
mandli.com
I'd guess that these vehicles are just part of a large effort to improve Apple's mapping project. At the same time, it's probably true that Apple is working on some automotive project as well. These minivans probably have nothing to do with Apple's automotive project. The discovery of one project has probably tipped out people to leak the other.
Who know's if we'll ever see a Apple Car, but it won't be for several years if we do. These minivans are probably totally unrelated to that.
For my money Apple is and has been working on a car (some form of personal transportation) for a long time, but whatever we will see first in terms of a tangible product will not be the final deal. If Apple is working on high res street level mapping for instance, I would assume that to be a step towards a more ambitious plan which is dependent upon the success of the former to become a reality.
If you have no reason to go to Richmond, don't.
Point Richmond is kind of an exception, due to it being right alongside the bay. Everywhere else is gangbanger land.
I wonder why that van was there? Maybe picking up some company by the hour?
The more I think about it, the more ridiculous the concept of Apple actually getting to the car industry seems. It's just a massive pain in the ass. Whatever they're doing, it's to enhance their current services.
What a whirlwind news cycle we have nowadays. Half of you are sick of hearing about the car, the van and all of it. Lol
I like how AI keeps referring to these vehicles as "testbeds," to keep the drum beating on the Apple Car rumors. If Apple's using them for gathering map data, as has always seemed most likely, then they're not testing anything; they're just gathering data.
I wonder how often Tim Cook shakes his head in wonder at how fast the internet is to turn fragments of misinterpreted information into a myth about Apple's intentions.
Does this mean Apple is building a driverless car? Obviously not. But only a couple companies in the world can justify driving a car down every street, and if all cars will be driverless cars in the future, it makes a whole lot of sense to start collecting that data. Maybe it's so they can partner with Tesla, or maybe it's so that car makers don't cede their car's platform to Google, but it seems really unlikely that anyone today would build a 3D map of every street and not be planning for driverless cars somehow.
Must be their boring lifes or it's a government driven plan to....
Street mapping likelihood: 98%
Self-Driving Car likelihood: 0.5%
Electric Car Development/Research: 0.5%
Something related to iPhones and Cars: 1%
Combine it with hiring A123 battery engineers:
Street mapping likelihood: 97%
Self-Driving Car likelihood: 2%
Electric Car Development/Research: 1%
Something related to iPhones and Cars: 1%
Apple already uses li-ion batteries in everything but its desktops, so the battery rumors change nothing.