Summary
- Apple wants to offer augmented reality to drivers
- A guidance system developed using augmented reality
- An augmented reality mapping system in the making
Apple recently filed a patent that introduces an iPhone-based automotive augmented reality mapping system. The application helps to offer relevant information to the driver.
We already knew that Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, prefers augmented reality to virtual reality. A patent, recently filed by the Apple brand, seems to confirm this attraction. This patent presents a system of augmented reality mapping which offers users enhanced real-time views of their immediate surroundings, also adding relevant information for the driver.
Apple wants to offer augmented reality to drivers
Our American colleagues from "Apple Insider", always on the lookout for information on the Cupertino company, have unearthed a patent recently filed by the American manufacturer. Registered under number: 9,488,488, this patent describes a augmented reality mapping system using an iPhone that can connect to the Apple CarPlay app which projects this information onto the vehicle screen.
The system shown in the patent uses an iPhone's camera to take real-time video of the surroundings. By connecting to a database, the application will then superimpose information on the video from the smartphone's camera such as the names of streets or buildings and nearby points of interest. The video is then enriched with data in virtual reality.
A guidance system developed using augmented reality
A more elaborate version also makes it possible, of course, to take advantage of the smartphone's GPS information as well as other data from the iPhone's sensors (gyroscope, digital compass and the accelerometer). The system presented by Apple in its patent also makes it possible to offer guidance for navigation. The user will thus be able to receive driving information allowing him to reach his destination as well as possible. The indications of the path to take will therefore be superimposed on the video in real time. The patent speaks, moreover, of information coming from the Cloud and which will add warnings for the driver such as for example the existence of a one-way street.
The orientation given to the iPhone will also allow two display formats to be offered. It will therefore be possible either to use the enriched video in real time or to switch to a more traditional bird's-eye view mode presenting a map as if it were seen from the sky.
An augmented reality mapping system in the making
However, the system allows more complex calculations which will add a large amount of additional information. Other features, not described in the patent, could certainly be added in the future.
Note, however, that the Apple brand is not the only one to develop such an augmented reality mapping system for driving. The Jaguar Land Rover group has already embarked on such a system since 2014. However, the solution presented by Apple in its patent seems much more revolutionary.
Source : Apple Insider
