Vehicle leasing company Vanarama has produced a virtual visualisation of what The Apple Car could look like by using publicly available patents filed by Apple Inc.
The American technology giant has so far provided few details about what is arguably Apple’s biggest project to date and so Vanarama has analysed genuine patents to show the imagined Apple Car’s exterior and interior.
Exterior wise, The Apple Car has a sleek SUV appearance with a frosted white finish – a popular colour since the launch of the Apple iPhone 4 in 2010.
At the front of the vehicle there is a mesh-like grille and a glowing apple logo inspired by previous generations of the MacBook laptop.
Patents have been submitted for a vehicle shell structure, with no door pillars, and front and rear doors which are inverted to offer greater flexibility for passenger movement and loading.
One of Apple’s standout interior ideas is a fully customisable dashboard allowing the driver to arrange the controls themselves.
Whether it’s the sound system, heating controls or other vehicle information, the driver can cherry-pick the controls depending on preference.
Added to this are seamless displays without any clear edges or borders that run the full width of the dashboard.
A patent for ‘intelligent automated assistant’ suggests The Apple Car will benefit from an upgraded version of Siri. Besides the usual question-based commands, this version will be able to monitor road and cabin conditions and make recommendations without prompt.
Those sharing The Apple Car with a friend are expected to be able to use digital signatures from smartphones and smartwatches to recognise who is driving, amend music playlists, seat setup and destinations.
More information can be found at Vanarama’s virtual tour, which also includes a visualisation of Samsung’s car that could be capable of an in-car blood alcohol checker.