Inside Apple’s Crazy Patent For Their New Car

According to Bloomberg, Apple is (again) accelerating the development of its newest electric car, but the project has refocused on full self-driving capabilities. The report adds the Apple Car team (no mention of Project Titan) had explored two options over the years. The first is an Apple Car with limited self-driving capabilities, mainly steering and acceleration. The second is a self-driving, fully autonomous car that functions with zero human intervention. Under the watchful eye of new Apple Car team leader and Apple Watch software executive Kevin Lynch, the tech giant is now reportedly focusing its efforts on the second option and allegedly plans to unveil a production self-driving Apple Car by 2025.

Shifting its focus to self-driving cars may explain why Apple’s busy filing new patents left and right. It recently won a series of 53 newly granted patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including patents for a Dynamic Focus 3D VR Headset Display and a Virtual Reality System. The patent states that Apple’s VR system has a direct retinal projector system that scans images pixel-by-pixel directly to your eye’s retina.

The patent further explains that the new VR system eliminates accommodation-convergence mismatch problems like headaches, nausea, and eyestrain, which are prevalent among users of conventional VR and augmented reality systems. We can see how Apple’s latest inventions can migrate to in-car entertainment, but we have no idea why the incoming Apple Car would make do with no windows; it’ll probably have a windshield and front-side windows at the very least. However, passengers could immerse themselves in a unique virtual reality experience while on the go despite Apple’s persistence in referring to its new technology as a “VR system for use in autonomous vehicles with no windows.”