A MacDailyNews reader has spotted another Apple mystery van, with the telltale GPS and camera contraption atop, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on the The Island of Hawai’i (Big Island).
This same setup has now been seen and photographed in the following areas: New York City, San Francisco, San Diego, and Florida, among others. We continue to believe that these are mapping vehicles currently collecting data for an Apple Maps feature TBA.
The photos:
Related articles:
Video reveals close-up look of Apple’s mystery van project – February 17, 2015
Apple mystery van spotted in San Diego – February 10, 2015
Apple testing mysterious camera-equipped vehicles – February 4, 2015
U.S. patent application reveals Apple is working on ‘Street View’ mapping technology – April 4, 2013
Now an Android fan site will complain that Apple Maps is out of date with the lava floes . . . .
This Apple fan will point out that Apple Maps in downtown Honolulu needs that Dodge van. No “wow” factor, though.
The lava powered iCar is coming!
Yeah but the stuff is so heavy. Then how do you dump out the cold stuff at the filling station? How about we use something that’s liquid at normal air temperature, like Mercury! /s
Red mercury?…
Uh, yeah! That’s the ticket! I can sell it to you, my friend, for the very special price of $400,000 per Kg. Cash only, unmarked bills. It’s going for cheap because it’s slightly used. Potency guaranteed. Send my your shipping address. 😉
The MacDailyNews reader was not specified. Was he/she coincidentally on vacation in Hawaii, or deliberately deployed there on a fact-finding mission by a shadowy organisation? How many spotters, and spies, does MDN actually command? Is MDN in fact not a mere aggregator of Apple news and rumours but a generator of them as well?
Like Scoop Nisker used to say: “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.”
Has anybody followed one of these vans for a while to get a better idea of what it is doing?
How do people know they’re Apple vans?
The first van spotted in San Fran checked out as registered to Apple.
Apple will make battery powered vans to delivery virgins to be thrown into the volcano.
That will be concerning to the fair people of New York.
There are no virgins in New York
And suddenly there’s another eruption of speculation.
I know Apple is working with TomTom as its maps provider. I saw a TomTom vehicle on an access road in south Austin. Why would they want redundancy with this van when TomTom is already the provider?
Updates and verifications maybe?
Here’s TomTom’s response to iPhoneInCanada regarding similar vehicles three years ago:
“The vans are taking 360° shots around themselves so we can confirm street/road signs, road markings (such as lanes), and the geometry of the roads. This is used for internal purposes only and is not accessible to the public.”
Why can’t Apple just make a statement about these damn vehicles instead of having 10,000 speculators constantly vying for their moment of fame. Google and Bing vehicles are clearly marked and hardly anyone give a damn when they’re passing by.
Apple has always played the mystery violin. It is the most effective part of their “stealth” public relations — remain mum, and unfettered speculation spawns unlimited web traffic fuelled by ad revenues. Some people have speculated that Apple plant rumours themselves, to keep their name in the news, but this is clearly unnecessary. The media themselves function as Apple PR.
As an alternative point of view, why the hell should they?
It’s none of our business what they’re doing until it becomes part of a product or service.
Perhaps Apple is street mapping state parks.
National parks as well.
Unfortunately resolution sucks in those photos, hopefully NOT an iPhone…is it a California plate on the van?
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