The Apple Car, a driverless smart vehicle that was intended to beat the Tesla, was a bit of a strange project and, when it was finally canceled, it wasn’t wholly unexpected. In development for a decade, it was incredibly ambitious. Part of this ambition — a recent patent shows a very cool bit of windshield tech that the rest of the car industry could, and should, learn from.
As spotted by Patently Apple, Apple was working on a display built into the car windshield that would effectively work as a live feed of the car’s mirrors. There can be a danger in checking your mirrors when moving so this patent would implement cameras on the side of the vehicle that would come up like a virtual screen on your windscreen while driving. This could then be intelligently turned on and off depending on your movements, making you less reliant on peripheral vision. If you go to turn right, the right camera could automatically start displaying a live feed in front of you.
A version of this already exists in many cars today, with a small live feed under the windscreen showing behind the car, but none have been directly implemented into the windshield itself. This is a very Apple solution, reminding me of the virtual panels of Apple Vision Pro.
Will we ever see this patent?
Just last week, it was claimed that Apple Car tech could be implemented in a future Porsche project, complete with an improved CarPlay experience. Millions of dollars and years' worth of research were put into the Apple Car — it makes sense that some of its findings would be implemented in future projects. However, it is worth noting that this is just a patent, and Apple will file thousands of patents every year. A patent can be a declaration of intent, but it can also be just a land grab to ensure other companies don’t get there first.
The beginnings of Apple Vision Pro began almost two decades before its official launch, so Apple isn’t a company against waiting on an idea until it can be implemented as intended. Though Project Titan (AKA the Apple Car) might have been canceled, hopefully, we’ll see some of the fruits of all that work in the future.
