Mysterious Apple Van Captured on Video in Palo Alto Residential Neighborhood

A largely unmarked van with rooftop cameras, similar to the one originally spotted roaming Bay Area streets earlier this month, has been captured on video in Palo Alto, California. MacRumors obtained the footage from reader Jonathan Shiu, who recently recorded the van driving past Juana Briones Park on Clemo Avenue, a residential side street located approximately 10 miles from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino.


It has been increasingly speculated that these fifth-generation Dodge Caravans, which are reportedly leased to Apple, are part of the company's work on an electric car, but it is also possible that the vans are being used for a project similar to Google's Street View. It is conceivable that the rooftop cameras are being used to either collect mapping data for Apple Maps or as sensors to assist with self-driving initiatives.

Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that Apple is hiring automotive experts to work in a top-secret research lab located near the company's headquarters. The Wall Street Journal soon followed up with a report claiming that Apple has hundreds of employees working on developing an electric vehicle, and Reuters added that the project will involve self-driving cars.

Clemo Avenue

Clemo Avenue in Palo Alto, California, about 10 miles from Apple's HQ in Cupertino

Apple is likely in the early stages of research and development for any electric car project, and it is fully possible that the iPhone maker scraps the initiative before it ever reaches the public. With both Google and Tesla already invested in electric and self-driving vehicles, it will be interesting to see if Apple enters the industry or remains on the sidelines in the months and years ahead.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

iPhone SE 4 With Apple's Own 5G Modem 'Confirmed' to Launch in March

Tuesday November 19, 2024 12:12 pm PST by
Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley and his colleagues recently traveled to Asia to meet with various electronics manufacturers and suppliers. In a research note this week, outlining key takeaways from the trip, the analysts said they have "confirmed" that a fourth-generation iPhone SE with an Apple-designed 5G modem is slated to launch towards the end of the first quarter next year. In line with previo...
airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Real Mock

Apple Releases iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 With Security Fixes

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that debuted earlier in September. iOS 18.1.1 and iPadOS 18.1.1 come three weeks after the launch of iOS 18.1. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released iOS 17.7.2 for...
at t turbo indicator iphone 16 pro max v0 8hrh7w5f3w1e1

AT&T Turbo Indicator Showing Up in iPhone Status Bar for Subscribers

Wednesday November 20, 2024 3:42 am PST by
AT&T has begun displaying "Turbo" in the iPhone carrier label for customers subscribed to its premium network prioritization service, according to reports on Reddit. The new indicator seems to have started appearing after users updated to iOS 18.1.1, but that could be just coincidence. Image credit: Reddit user No_Highlight7476 The Turbo feature provides enhanced network performance through ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Rumored to Surpass iPhone 6 as Thinnest iPhone Ever

Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick. "We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote. If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
bug security vulnerability issue fix larry

Make Sure to Update: iOS 18.1.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 Fix Actively Exploited Vulnerabilities

Tuesday November 19, 2024 10:52 am PST by
The iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 updates that Apple released today address JavaScriptCore and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says have been actively exploited on some devices. With the JavaScriptCore vulnerability, processing maliciously crafted web content could lead to arbitrary code execution. The WebKit vulnerability had the same issue with maliciously crafted...

Top Rated Comments

MichaelJohnston Avatar
128 months ago
How is it 2015 and we're still dealing with VVS? //www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt9zSfinwFA
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Refurbished_ Avatar
128 months ago
A van, a computer, and a GPS communications device. Are you getting it? These aren't three separate devices. This is one device. And we're calling it iSoccerMom. Today, Apple is going to re-invent the soccer mom.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Renzatic Avatar
127 months ago
Run out front of it and see if it stops in time. :D

HEY GUYS! IT'S THAT NEW APPLE MINIVAN! LET'S SEE IF IT'S ONE OF THOSE SELF DR*thudunk**thudunk*.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Squid7085 Avatar
127 months ago
It seems almost pointless for Apple start their own street view project, unless they had some major upgrade to the original....which I can't imagine what it would be.
How would it be pointless? The original point of StreetView was to send vehicles out to actually drive the roads and improve the maps. The photos could assist in reading signs for speed limits and one-way streets, and the GPS data could help improve the maps. This isn't new, Garmin and other companies had been doing similar things for years to help improve their maps, that's how the "base map" that Google and Apple started with was made. Apple would be stupid to NOT be doing this to help improve their maps.

With that said, maybe it was Googles plan all along, but given how awful the original street view photos were, I don't think they ever intended to make the images public. Rather they used them internally to improve maps. Somebody likely said one day "Hey, maybe our users would find these images useful."

If I were to throw in my guess as to what Apple is doing, I would say it's a mix between street view and flyover. Flyover looks great from far away, but is pretty rough at street level. If Apple is driving around and taking "flyover" photos at street level, that could create something as useful as street view, but have it actually have dimension instead of being flat photos. That could be really useful and cool, while also serving the basic purpose of improving map data.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wxman2003 Avatar
128 months ago
Apple is trying to think outside the box to make Safari snappier.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Westside guy Avatar
127 months ago
Maybe Apple should invest some of those billions of dollars towards finding a cure for those people who are physically incapable of rotating their phones to a horizontal position when shooting video.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)