HACKINTOSH.ORG | Macintosh discussion forums

Mysterious Apple Car Spotted Roaming Bay Area Streets

There have been multiple sightings of a mysterious van with a strange apparatus on its roof in Concord, CA and, according to CBS affiliate KPIX 5 (http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/02/03/mystery-van-could-be-apples-entry-in-effort-to-develop-self-driving-vehicle/), the car is leased to Apple. Bay Area blog Claycord posted photos (http://claycord.com/2015/02/03/update-the-mystery-van-driving-around-claycord/) of the Dodge Caravan earlier today.
 
 <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-436972" src="http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2015/02/applevan1.jpg" alt="applevan1" width="800" height="372" /><center>Photo via Claycord (http://claycord.com/2015/02/03/update-the-mystery-van-driving-around-claycord/)</center>
 One possible use for the car could be for a mapping project, as the cameras on top of the vehicle are similar to other mapping cars. The Cupertino company has been planning on significantly improving (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/11/apple-maps-ios-8/) its Maps application though, with plans for transit directions, improved points-of-interest data, indoor mapping and more. It would be likely that Apple would be prepping a feature similar to Google Street View or Bing StreetSide.
 
 Claycord, however, noted that the Apple car looked similar to a self-driving Dodge Caravan spotted in New York (http://youtu.be/wVobOLCj8BM) in September 2014. Technology analyst Rob Enderle, who spoke to KPIX, also agreed that it's a self-driving car rather than a mapping car.
 

“Too many cameras,” said Enderle. “It has cameras that are angled down at all four corners of the vehicle.”

As noted (http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/02/03/apple-testing-mysterious-camera-equipped-vehicles-in-the-bay-area?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter) by AppleInsider, Google's Street View cars (http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/) do use a total of 15 5-megapixel cameras to stitch together its images. Apple's leased minivan appears to have similar technology, with 12 cameras that could potentially be used to stitch together images for a Street View-like picture.
 
 <center><script type='text/javascript' src='http://CBSSF.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=273741;hostDomain=video.sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com;playerWidth=615;playerHeight=365;isShowIcon=true;clipId=11099354;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=CBS.SF%252Fworldnowplayer;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed'></script></center>
 Apple is not one of the six companies who have a permit for testing driverless cars, but Enderle says it wouldn't matter, noting that Apple could have a partnership with a manufacturer that allows them to lease and test a driverless car without a partner.
 
 An Apple spokesperson told KPIX that the company had no comment.
 
 
 Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories
 • iOS Continues to Lead in Mobile Ad Revenue Despite Increasing Competition From Android (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/03/ios-android-ad-revenue-2014/)
 • HTC Calls Out Apple and Samsung in New Rap Video 'Hold the Crown' (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/03/htc-rap-hold-the-crown/)
 • Hands-On With Olloclip's New Telephoto/Polarizing and Macro 3-in-1 Lenses for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/03/olloclip-telephoto-macro-lenses-hands-on-review/)
 • RadioShack May Close Half of its Retail Locations, Sell Other Half to Sprint [Updated] (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/02/radioshack-to-close-and-sell-to-sprint/)
 • Pebble Unfazed by Apple Watch, Plans New Hardware and Software in 2015 (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/02/pebble-2015-plans/)
 • Apple Planning to Raise Reported $5 Billion in Bond Sale [Updated] (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/02/apple-bond-sale/)
 • Apple to Open New Retail Store in Tianjin, China on February 7 (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/02/apple-store-tianjin-china/)
 • Apple Releases New Version of 'The Song' Ad for Chinese New Year (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/02/apple-the-song-ad-china/)
<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/35070/f/648327/s/4304d629/sc/5/mf.gif' border='0'/><br clear='all'/>

<a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/rc/1/rc.htm" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/rc/1/rc.img" border="0"/>[/url]
<a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/rc/2/rc.htm" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/rc/2/rc.img" border="0"/>[/url]
<a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/rc/3/rc.htm" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/rc/3/rc.img" border="0"/>[/url]

<img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/a2.img" border="0"/> (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/a2.htm)<img width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/218611416288/u/49/f/648327/c/35070/s/4304d629/sc/5/a2t.img" border="0"/><div class="feedflare">
<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img> (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?a=b1Uo-l_TZmE:_hoZqFW3wvc:yIl2AUoC8zA) <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?d=6W8y8wAjSf4" border="0"></img> (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?a=b1Uo-l_TZmE:_hoZqFW3wvc:6W8y8wAjSf4) <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img> (http://feeds.macrumors.com/~ff/MacRumors-Front?a=b1Uo-l_TZmE:_hoZqFW3wvc:qj6IDK7rITs)
</div><img src="//feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MacRumors-Front/~4/b1Uo-l_TZmE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

Source: Mysterious Apple Car Spotted Roaming Bay Area Streets (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/04/mysterious-apple-car/)