The Apple Car Sensor: Group gives for the first time an overview of technology and structure

In order not to depend on other companies for navigation data and environmental services, since 2015 Apple has been collecting data on its own vehicles. Now, for the first time, the Group has provided information on technology and vehicle capture structure, which in addition to cameras have many other sensors to capture the environment.

The mobile scanner for the detailed detection of the environment

Apple's lack of notoriety to launch Apple Maps is part of the computer history. Since then, the group has invested heavily in improving the service and since at least 2015 also sends its own vehicles on the road, which should capture the data for the cards, among other things. For the first time, TechCrunch had the opportunity to ride in such a group registration vehicle and learn more about their technology.

Apple Authorized for the First Time …
… take a look at Maps Maps

Thus, the vehicles are not limited to the structure of GPS and cameras, which is recognizable at first sight. On the roof, Apple has also placed a LIDAR matrix at each corner, which allows spatial detection of the environment. This data is then merged with the recordings of the eight cameras for high-resolution recording of the environment, which also contains the information collected for removal of objects.

Also onboard is a fixed Mac Pro in conjunction with an SSD board. Interesting detail: According to TechChrunch, the card capture software itself runs on an iPad that is connected to the rest of the system via USB. In addition to the driver, the driver also has another employee on board, who oversees the check-in. Each trip brings "thousands of images and a cloud of 3D dots" together.

Encryption on the way

In order to respond to data protection, Apple puts them on their own encrypted information only on SSDs. These are in turn brought to a group data center, where specially developed algorithms delete personal data such as faces or license plates. Software access to the raw material should be excluded, even technicians would have no way to sort it out. You can find out how this data should be used in our article "From scratch: Apple Maps should improve".



Apple, map service, maps, Apple Maps
TechChrunch

2018-07-02T19: 32: 00 + 02: 00 John Woll