Mysterious Apple Car Spotted Roaming Bay Area Streets

[Macboy Pro]

Yes, yes... VERY humorous.
My iPad Air 2 & iPhone 6 are sooooo much less functional that an original iPad & an iPhone 3GS.
I'm with you. I wish they wouldn't keep removing so much thick functionality & making their products less and less usable year after year. Derp dee derp, derp derp derp.

/sarcasm

I was referring to Mac products, not really iPads and iPhones. You do solidify a point I have made many times. Apple would still be the Apple of the early/mid 2000s without the iPod/iphone/ipad. Hope they don't screw any of those up too much or they will be treading on dangerous grounds. Right now they are high on success of the iPhone.

 

[oplix]

NSA is looking to spy on people while disguising as an autonomous car. Mystery solved, you're welcome.

 

[thefu]

I saw this same van last week in a parking lot in Morgan Hill. Walked up to it and asked the guy if it was a google mapping car. He said yes. However, he was seated in the passenger seat with a ruggedized and mounted tablet with a map on it and no one was in the drivers seat. There was someone in the back seat though. The silver things were spinning on top. I assumed they were cameras. The black circles looked like some sort of sonar emitter/receiver.

 

[princered]

Let's make rumors up right now so it can spread on the internet:
Chinese automanufactuer SAIC Motor to build the car based off of Apple's design in California. (Don't mind the Caravan it's a decoy)
SAIC Motor to announce job opening for a 'smart' car mass manufacturing.
Car to have Gold, White and Space Grey options available.
Anyone else can add to this – it's all true after all.

Full ultra thin sapphire windshield, with ultra clear high resolution retina headlights.
but you can only refuel at MFi pumps only either electrical or fuel. Of course there are MFi adapters you can purchase only from Apple retail stores.
Theres also an optional Apple Care Super + and covers 3 incidentals for a small deductible.

 

[John.B]

Technology analyst Rob Enderle

 

[dacreativeguy]

Then what should they have bought then? A Telsa? Mercedes? Just because you have money doesn't mean you spend it frivolously "just because".

A DeLorean! If you are going to build a time machine, street view mapper, or self driving car, why not do it with some style!

 

[John.B]

Rob Enderle, Macrumors? Really? Rob FREAKIN' Enderle???? WTF?????

KPIX was the station that interviewed him. MR, et al. were just quoting that story.

But the point is well taken. That guy must have compromising photographs of a lot of "important" people.

 

[Alori]

I've seen the car twice now driving around Pleasant Hill. I haven't seen any better photos of it in this thread yet, so I figured I'd post some.

 

[Gasu E.]

Did any of you read the article thoroughly lol its not a mapping car it is a self driving car/driverless car, so not for Apple Maps but something else

Wouldn't it make sense for a mapping car to be self-driving?

 

[mbh]

I've seen the car twice now driving around Pleasant Hill. I haven't seen any better photos of it in this thread yet, so I figured I'd post some.

The dealer sticker is "Mac Haik". Definitely an Apple car.

 

[Lepton]

I believe they will enhance flyover so that in some places, you can "land" and see a 3D "street view". Currently flyover doesn't go to very low altitudes.

 

[Gasu E.]

And it would've been funny if it was something like:
"You know if Apple made a car, no matter how much improved it got over time... it would always have the same mpg rating! =P"

Get it? Because iPhone and iPad battery life never change. See... it's based on something real, hence = humor. That's how that works. If I said "you'd get flat tires a lot" or something stupid like that... it would not make sense. See... because that's not something Apple is known for. Kind of like the OP comment about losing functionality each iteration. See... that's not funny because actually each new product adds functions. Understand now?
Btw... when someone actually writes a post using a word as silly as "derp" in it; I'm not sure "why are you being so serious?" is an appropriate response. Derp has never been used in a State of the Union address I believe for the express purpose that it radiates an aura of non-seriousness. =P
Lol, I love jokes & joking. I just thought that was a poorly constructed one.

Are you perchance going to any parties soon? If so, please tell us which ones, so I can be sure to skip them.

 

[Tycho24]

Are you perchance going to any parties soon? If so, please tell us which ones, so I can be sure to skip them.

Lol, np... I apologize for not suffering fools gladly!
Please do skip attending any of my parties. I have zero interest in being around you. =)

 

[powers74]

Think of it as street level flyover.

I hate that about google's system, but never realized that was the reason for it's clunkyness. I'd be willing to bet Apple is using the same tech as flyover, just putting it on a van instead of a plane. Which would be sweet.

 

[Kar98]

Oh! iCar shuffle!

 

[rictus007]

Oh man, people are going to think Apple definitely will be releasing this. How long till the concept videos arrive?

Also Samsung will have their own model in 6-9 months

 

[gnasher729]

Wouldn't it make sense for a mapping car to be self-driving?

You'd need a self-driving car that works without maps, and that works on all roads that you might want to map. I don't think we have that yet.

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Why are they interviewing Rob Enderle? He has been connected to Microsoft in the past and should have the nickname Rob "AlwaysWrong" Enderle. He predicted that HDDVD would win. He predicted that the Zune would be a success. He predicted that PlaysforSure would overwhelm iTunes. He predicted that the Surface RT would be a success.

Hope he doesn't predict that iPhone 7 will outsell Android

 

[MacMulti]

Having used Apple Maps lately, turns out many searches are not found. Searches are not as good, maps are not as detailed, not as fast, but map look nice. Keep it up .

You obviously haven't used Apple Maps lately. It's almost as good as Google Maps now even though Google had many years of head start.

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Well, knowing that Android was a follower of iOS, I wonder how they can improve upon iOS.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

We know it's not using Apple maps; they didn't have to pull it from a river

Hopefully they don't decide to use it for street view work in Australia

 

[MinEderPlayz]

Apple never equals cheaper

I think they were referring to the production cost, not the exorbitant product price.

 

[Tech198]

Its the NSA !! Everybody run.

 

[unplugme71]

And if the battery dies, the entire car will be replaced as there is now way to replace the battery...

hahahaha yes!

1 year standard warranty and AppleCare will not cover accidents or spills for the 3 years unless you upgrade to the AC+. Then there's a $10k deductible.

 

[EthanLMT]

Oh! iCar shuffle!

Lol a car that takes you to random places across the country and you don't know what it is until you get there XD

 

[Statusnone88]

Apple Car?

Illuminati confirmed.

 

[k995]

It may benefit everyone short term, but long term we benefit more from competition. Hypothetical: Apple comes out with vector based street view maps. Google improves theirs to vector based as well + some other "holy crap didn't know they could do that" implementation. Some other mapping company comes up with an innovative take. They get acquired by Apple and integrated into Maps. Everyone ups their game and we all benefit.

What ever Apple is doing, I hope it leads to something good and is something to drive the competition to come up with something even better.

Oh I hope the same , thats why I dont want apple to spend a lot of effort and money into building the backend for its own map app that is nowhere close to what google has. I want it to inovate on its front end and interaction, not spend years trying to play catch up with correct street names and places with google .

"Competition is good... as long as you're not competing with Google".

I never said that. Its not the competition aspect I was talking about .

I am referring to the enourmous head start google has

There isn't a snowballs chance in hell I'm letting Google Maps battery draining, privacy invading, software near my iPhone. Apple maps works really well here and the interface and usability is miles ahead of Google's offering. The CarPlay integration is slick!

The app that was bundled and used by hundreds of millions for years without a lot of complaints ?