Apple files a patent allowing the passenger of a VTC race to identify the vehicle ordered with augmented reality in order to avoid getting into the wrong car.
Apple is constantly innovating to improve the functionality of its applications. The Cupertino company is thus considering using augmented reality so that your iPhone is able to identify the vehicle you have ordered for a race (via Uber or Bolt for example).
It’s only a patent right now, but this novelty would allow the user to make sure they’re going to the right car, when ordering a ride.
Augmented reality to avoid getting into the wrong car
Spotted by Apple Insider, the patent describing this concept is entitled “Augmented Reality Interface for Facilitating Identification Of Arriveriving Vehicle”. According to him, if mobile applications are useful for booking a trip and carrying it out in safe conditions, but dense use of this method in urban areas can lead to confusion as to the identification of the vehicle ordered. . According to Apple, getting into the wrong car is a common mistake for passengers.
Based on this observation, the company would like to introduce a system using augmented reality to overcome this problem. Although one can imagine that the brand’s Vision Pro helmet meets the technical requirements, it would in fact be much more suitable and practical to use the iPhone. It is this direction that Apple’s patent naturally takes.
Using the same augmented reality guidance process present in the Apple Map app’s pedestrian mode, the user would be able to accurately see the location of the ordered vehicle. Remember that this guidance system works based on the surrounding buildings allowing the system to determine your precise location as well as your orientation in space.
A feature that seems a bit gimmicky
While the idea is interesting, technology sometimes seems to want to solve problems that it creates itself. A similar solution that is much simpler to put into practice from a technical point of view has existed since 1891 in France. It was precisely in Lyon, in the Tête d’Or park where vehicles circulated at the time, that the first license plates were put in place. An effective way to identify a vehicle.
Finally, Apple Insider suggests that this idea would be part, in a rather large framework, of the same project as the Apple Car, also known as Project Titan, whose realization could take place in a few years according to certain rumors.
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