Possible Apple Car Sighting. Testing Mule Could Be Hiding Autonomous Underpinnings.

Well, well, well. What do we have here? It’s no secret that Apple is working on an autonomous car to rival the Google car, but we haven’t seen much more than renderings and misdirection from other journals. That might change as we coudl have our first ever spotting of a testing mule.

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Tech blog Techradar seems to think they’ve spotted the mule in Ford Transit guise. Here’s a picture of the vehicle in question.

According to Techradar, this is a bit different than the other vehicles Apple Maps uses to map roads (exactly how Google uses it’s fleet to map roads for Google maps. However, there are some key differences.

At first blush, the van – a Ford Transit – appeared to be just another Apple Maps van. It had similar Lidar canisters and cameras on the roof, though was clearly a different vehicle than the Dodge Caravans gathering Maps data many, including myself, have observed cruising public roads.

At first blush, the van – a Ford Transit – appeared to be just another Apple Maps van. It had similar Lidar canisters and cameras on the roof, though was clearly a different vehicle than the Dodge Caravans gathering Maps data many, including myself, have observed cruising public roads.

For one, the configuration of the equipment on the roof is different than anything I’ve seen on an Apple Maps van previously. Instead of four cameras on the corners and two Lidar at the front and back of the rig, this vehicle had four Lidar on the corners and cameras (two in the rear that I could tell) positioned on the front and back.

The black bump in the middle of the rig on the roof is larger than the white box on top of other Apple Maps vans. It may point to a new configuration for Apple’s mapping equipment, but it also might be that it houses a larger number of sophisticated sensors for self-driving purposes.

This leads us to believe that this could be something completely new for Apple and might be the startings of their new car. For comparison, here’s what a completely different Apple Maps car looks like with all its recording equipment on top.

It’s absolutely different, but continues to raise questions. Especially since the Transit van was spotted driving around a bunch of Apple office buildings.

If anything, it shows Apple is upping their game and generating more and more interest. We continue to believe we’ll see an Apple car before the end of this year.

(Source: Techradar)