The Apple Car may alert drivers to chips and cracks in the windshield and other windows, with a system that uses infrared light to determine if there are any issues with the glass, as well as giving an early warning to prevent small cracks getting larger.
An Apple Car could have displays embedded within any glass in the vehicle, with laminated glass sandwiching various other materials to block external light, emit its own light, or to display an image.
The rumored "Apple Glass" headset may be a single hardware product, but the continuing flood of research looks more like Apple is intending to use AR as a sea change in how we use all of our devices.
The depth-sensing capabilities of the Apple Car may not be limited to just LiDAR, with Apple suggesting a version using an infrared camera and light pulses could also be used to detect road obstacles.
Online retail giant Amazon has reportedly agreed to pay over a billion dollars to buy Zoox, which was an early entrant into the autonomous car industry, and has previously hired away "Apple Car" engineers.
The Apple Car self-driving system could pre-alert drivers and passengers of maneuvers it will be performing, by posting notifications on the screens of iPhones and iPads in the vehicle.
Regulators in the United States are encouraging Apple and other self-driving vehicle system creators to collect and share data on tests of their autonomous driving platforms, to help promote it development and earn the public's trust over the use of the technology.
As work on the "Apple Car" progresses, Apple is coming up with new ways to improve automated driving systems, including using other sensors to enhance LiDAR scans to better determine what's on the road.
When it comes to the long-running Apple Car project, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty expects Apple to invest significantly in researching and developing a "vertically integrated solution."
Apple's rumored car could have airbags built within the seatbelts and ceiling cavities for protection in an emergency, a design that could help ensure the safety of passengers when the seats are positioned to face each other.
The long-rumored Apple Car may include displays and indicators that are hidden within the car's interior by special covering layers, while another design for its sunroof suggests the panel could change translucency when it is opened.
While not the long-rumored Apple Car, an Apple-branded vehicle has gone on sale, with a replica of the extremely rare 1979 Porsche 935 K3 race car that once raced at Le Mans now available to purchase for $499,000.
Apple is investigating the composition of car windows that could be adjusted to help with passenger privacy, or change protective tinting in bright environments.
Apple is working on a three-phase AC induction motor suitable for an Apple Car, implementing the same basic engineering and motor design principles that Tesla uses.
Apple on Wednesday unveiled two new iPad Pro models that come equipped with a LiDAR Scanner, which will offer major improvements to ARKit and photography.
Apple's future car may have photovoltaic solar panels on the roof to maximize range and idle charging speed, but it may not stop there. The company believes that an extension of the technology would be well-suited to the Apple Watch, the iPhone, and other device cases.
Instead of CarPlay stuck on a separate display on a vehicle's head unit, Apple is working on integrating CarPlay into a car's regular dashboard — and it may be a hint at how Apple itself may implement it in the Apple Car.
Apple's autonomous vehicle testing program saw a significant drawdown in 2019, with its fleet driving 72,201 miles less than it did in 2018. The company also appears to have changed its disengagement reporting protocol, information commonly used to gauge system efficacy.
A new Apple patent describes a system of automatically altering the shape of a car seat, providing further comfort or greater safety, while it is being driven.
The sudden appearance of the 'CarKey API' may only be the beginning, as Apple is seemingly exploring how it can expand on its cryptographic-based device authentication to bring digital keys into other areas.
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Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Mike Peterson
Mikey Campbell
