The last week was full of information regarding Apple's plans to develop a autonomous electric car, and a series of minivans rented by Apple for an unknown official purpose were seen across the US. It was unofficially speculated that these cars would be autonomous or would record images for a dedicated Street View system Apple Maps, and this last usage seems to be the true one. According to the video clip above, it is as clear as possible that the cars do not drive themselves, so that all the equipment on the ceiling has the role of recording images around the car.
In the clip you will see a driver behind the wheel of the car, but also a passenger holding a mobile terminal in his hand and it is speculated that through it he would interact with the recording system mounted on the roof of the car. The video clip demonstrates as clearly as possible that these cars have the role of recording images for a Street View system dedicated to Apple Maps and are not made to test an autonomous driving system. The theory is also supported by the fact that these cars are seen in more and more regions of the US, Apple not needing such a large diversity for initial tests of an autonomous car, so it is clear that iOS 9 will bring a Street View for Apple Maps.
Although these cars are not autonomous, this does not mean that this year or next year we will not see on the street a car equipped with such software developed by the Apple company. The considerable resources invested by Apple in this project show that its intentions regarding the development of such machines are serious, so we will not have long to wait until we see the first results.
