A patent registered by Apple raises the possibility of driving a car using a virtual reality environment, thanks to which it would not be necessary to put windows in any part of the vehicle.
At this point, it is still a mystery if the Apple car will finally come true. The company has hired, transferred and fired employees for this project several times over the past few years, but what seems clear is that for now, there is no great progress. In fact, it is not even known if Apple will manufacture the car in collaboration with a manufacturer (brands like Hyundai sounded), or if it will sell the platform so that any brand can use it in its future models.
The only thing that is clear is that Apple has invested a lot of time and money into the idea of owning a car, and the proof is in the various patents it has registered in its name. The last one that has gone viral is one, but it has finally been granted by the United States Patent Office this month.
The patent focuses on the use of virtual reality systems by car occupants, and how they could enjoy new experiences that would not be possible in other environments. Specifically, Apple proposes that the car’s active systems and control systems can be integrated into virtual reality to apply physical effects to the experience.
Apple gives as an example the cases of dizziness, which could be solved with a virtual reality viewer that shows graphics according to what we feel, and thus not make us dizzy, but it also talks about “immersive experiences”, replacing the view of the ‘real world’ with a ‘virtual world’ that would be synchronized with the movement and acceleration of the car.
Even more interesting is that the virtual reality system could be connected to the car’s sensors, such as cameras and LiDAR radar systems, as well as car controls such as steering and accelerator. In other words, we could drive using virtual reality, and that means that neither the windows nor the windshield would be necessary, since we would have a virtual view of our surroundings in 360 degrees.
Of course, if something like that came to pass, it would probably be completely illegal in most countries; but if the future of the automobile lies in autonomous or semi-autonomous cars that allow us to pass the time without having to be aware of the road, these systems may become popular, and in that case, Apple would have the upper hand with this patent.
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