Earlier today, we did mention about how the ridesharing service known as Uber which has irked its fair share of taxi drivers all over the world has teamed up with the company behind the ultimate driving machine, BMW, to promote the all new 7 Series. Well, this certainly goes to show how Uber is expanding its corporate presence and portfolio across various platforms, and this time around we have word that Uber has started to deploy its very own mapping vehicles.
It has been speculated that these mapping vehicles will be the same ones that belonged to Microsoft in the past, where those were used to pick up street data. Uber’s rebranded cars are no different from what Google has with their StreetView rides, where they all boast of a 3D spherical camera that can shoot everything around it. An Uber spokesperson did reveal that it is hoped such image-capturing technology will be able to assist the company in improving the various key areas for both drivers as well as passengers – and those improvements should include better route information and a more accurate estimated time of arrival.
As to whether all of these will also have something to do with Uber’s autonomous car project, that remains to be seen, but surely we are unable to rule that out, right?