It appears that Apple bit off more than it could chew (couldn’t resist) when it decided to go into the map business. That cost some people their jobs. Google gets all of publicity, but as Alexis Madrigal points out in this in-depth article in the Atlantic Nokia just may be the leader. This comes from their acquisition of Navteq, who was the first and the only provider of maps for car navigation systems when they first became popular.
As you can see in the image it looks like an early version of Topcon’s IP S2 with the Velodyne 64 that is being used to collect LiDAR data. As the author points out Apple might find Nokia to be of interest, given their low valuation. Thanks to Bill Gutelius at Active Imaging Systems for the heads up. I can’t imagine being a driver for them – what a life.
