Minivan leased to Apple spotted “wearing” cameras

Feb 4, 2015 11:00 GMT  ·  By
Apple-leased Mystery car drives around San Francisco bay area wearing cameras
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   Apple-leased Mystery car drives around San Francisco bay area wearing cameras

A Dodge Caravan spotted roaming the streets of San Francisco has spurred talks of Apple entering the driverless car industry, while others (including ourselves) believe the company is pursuing advancements in its mapping technologies.

No one knew who owned the car initially, but after doing some digging up, the CBS-owned KPIX discovered that the minivan was leased to Apple Inc. Technology analyst Rob Enderle tells the network that he doesn’t believe Apple is looking to bolster its Maps service with street view images.

Instead, he believes it’s more plausible for the Mac maker to have entered a partnership with a car manufacturer to pioneer driverless vehicles. While Apple does have regular discussions with leaders in every major industry, it’s also hard to believe that the Cupertino electronics vendor has its eyes set on this particular segment of the automotive industry.

Maps still more plausible than self-driving cars

A more credible scenario is indeed street-view for Apple Maps, a feature that the service currently lacks and is in dire need of. Google has been offering Street View for seven years now.

If so, the only question remains: when will Apple unveil it? With iOS 9 likely slated for release this fall, Apple could demo the new feature as early as June or July at WWDC.

If the testing has only just begun, the service will probably not be announced until next year, in which case iOS 10 will be the likely candidate to get it.

But Apple Maps is no longer bound to iOS. The service is also found in OS X, and Apple may be planning an expansion to the web as well, giving Google a run for its money like never before. Only time will reveal what Apple is truly up to. We can only hope it’s something they’ll be able to demo on stage and not keep a secret for very long.

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Apple-leased Mystery car drives around San Francisco bay area wearing cameras
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