Mark Gurman and Alan Levin, Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve its Maps service and catch longtime leader Google, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Cupertino, California-based company is assembling a team of robotics and data-collection experts that will use drones to capture and update map information faster than its existing fleet of camera-and-sensor ladened minivans, one of the people said.
Apple wants to fly drones around to do things like examine street signs, track changes to roads and monitor if areas are under construction, the person said. The data collected would be sent to Apple teams that rapidly update the Maps app to provide fresh information to users, the person added.
Apple is also developing new features for Maps, including views inside buildings and improvements to car navigation, another person familiar with the efforts said. The people asked not to be identified talking about private projects. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Fascinating. I’m imagining a sci-fi future where the air is filled with rival drones, constantly scanning for updates, tracking faces for marketing and intel value, hacking rival drones for their info, even disabling them, forcing them to land.
Good idea. I love competition.
Apple has been using drones for years. So the first sentence in Gurman’s article is already misleading.
Don’t forget non-judicial killings, fighting terrorism. Apologies in advance 😉
so the only thing those Apple vans were for was mapping? damn.
Take away: Skynet doesn’t give a shit about humans. They’re just collateral damage to taking out iCloud, Amazon and Google drones.
“… tracking faces for marketing and intel value …”
Eventually drones will be able to loiter over a suspect’s known area, wait for him/her to step outdoors, confirm his/her identity, then swoop down and take just one headshot. With conventional bullets or infrared laser.
Quick, clean, and 100% autonomous. No collateral blast damage. The only way to fly.
True, AFAIK, they started with drones when they purchased C3 technologies in Sweden back in 2011.
It’s possible they are increasing the use of or changing the direction of the use of drones though.