AppleInsider Staff
While Apple's radar- and camera-equipped minivans are being spotted with increasing frequency around the U.S., a new sighting this week in Germany served up an interesting twist: a Dodge Caravan that looks like one of Apple's vehicles, except it's a fake.
AppleInsider reader Thomas snapped a photo of the Apple homage in Hanover, the German city where the annual CeBIT technology trade show was held last week. The German Dodge sports the same style of X-shaped roof rack as Apple's, but all of the sensors appear to be mockups.
Solid metal tubes take the place of the Velodyne HDL-32 LiDAR units found on Apple's vans, while what appear to be plastic grommets serve as "cameras" in each corner. The Apple vans' high-sensitivity GPS antennas are replaced by PVC saucers on square metal tubing.
On the vehicle's left rear door, we find a convenient label identifying the van as an "autonomous test vehicle." Many have speculated that Apple's vans are designed for that purpose, though most agree they are in fact meant for a new digital mapping program.
It remains unclear why the owner of this particular van felt it necessary to ape Apple's vehicles. Given the clear and likely incorrect labeling, it seems that the unit could be meant as a prank, or perhaps designed to simulate Apple's vehicles in a video.
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Oliver Haslam
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
25 Comments
Taking a leaf from Samsung and Google's playbook?
Who the **** would do that and why? I guess if I had some advertisement on the vehicle I could see how that might attract business, but I personally lure business via a rouse. So what is their motivation?
How do you know that it isn't version 2.1 of the apparatus, which would inherently be more compact and less obtrusive, and wouldn't necessarily need all the signal strength provided by the larger antennas of the eariler version.
Even though its fake it'll be far more popular than Apple's fake watch.
[quote name="SolipsismY" url="/t/185364/apples-mystery-vans-are-so-popular-people-are-making-fake-ones#post_2696689"]Who the **** would do that and why? I guess if I had some advertisement on the vehicle I could see how that might attract business, but I personally lure business via a rouse. So what is their motivation?[/quote] Men have 2 primary motivations, money and honey. If it's not one it's the other.