Apple’s continuing to ramp up its automotive mapping experts by poaching employees from the German company Here, owned by Audi, BMW, and Daimler.
A new report claims that Apple has hired around a dozen employees over the past several months for software or mapping-related roles.
It’s not known whether Apple has an office in Berlin, or whether the employees are working remotely — with a possible view to moving to Cupertino at a later date. Earlier this year, it was suggested that Apple has a lab in Berlin it was using to develop its Apple Car technology.
In the past few months, it’s been suggested that Apple has downgraded work on its Apple Car project. At one point, the team was reportedly comprised of 1,000 people, although hundreds have since been reassigned, let go, or left Apple of their accord.
However, Apple is still showing plenty of interest in smart mapping technology — with another recent article claiming that Apple plans to use a combination of drones, indoor mapping and other smart tech to improve its Apple Maps service.
Specifically, Apple wants to use drones to “examine street signs, track changes to roads and monitor if areas are under construction,” so as to get a one-up on rival mapping services when it comes to keeping its maps up-to-date.
It has also used mapping minivans to collect data, although unlike Google’s similar Street View mapping vehicles, Apple’s appear to have been limited to a select few test locations.
Source: Business Insider
