Yesterday Apple made a big announcement — one that introduced its first all-new product line in about a decade: the Apple Vision Pro. Essentially, it’s an augmented-reality/VR headset thing that looks like an embiggened version of Dale Earnhardt’s racing goggles. The headset provides an immersive user interface and experience that doesn’t necessarily block out your normal field of vision, so graphical elements can appear to float in your field of view. There’s a lot of interesting possibilities for use here, but all we really care about is how you may be able to use it with cars, right? Oh, also, it costs $3,500 so there’s pretty much no chance in hell I’m going to get one, because if I had $3,500 moistening my wallet, I’d probably blow it on a car, which we should consider as well. But, before we look at some $3,500 cars, let’s look at the three things I think Apple Vision Pro has the most potential use for, automotively.
By the way, if you’re thinking “Pro? Why call it Apple Vision Pro? What about just Apple Vision?” Well, I think I know why: because Apple Vision, or, more accurately Apple-Vision, was already something Apple made! Yes, way back in 1978, Apple distributed a wonderful high-resolution graphics and sound demo written by Bob Bishop, first on cassette, then on disk.
If you think the new Apple Vision Pro demos are impressive, position yourself over a dropcloth in case you shit your pants and watch this:
Hot damn listen to those square waves! Can your fancy-ass goggles do that? I mean, probably. In fact, Apple should give away a pair to the first person to run Apple Vision ’78 on Apple Vision Pro ’23.
What To Use It For: Track Driving
Okay, let’s say you have a colon problem that makes you shit $100 bills so you can comfortably buy one of these. I bet a good use for them would be an application that assists you with track driving. It would have access to the map of whatever track you were on, with elevation changes, camber of turns and even surface quality, and when you drive, using GPS data, it knows where you are, and projects the ideal driving line right in your field of vision.
You know, exactly how driving games do:
It could tell you when and how much to get on the throttle, when to brake and how hard, warn of track conditions or upcoming turns, and so on. It could even show what line skilled drivers used in different conditions. It’d be like having a driving instructor, right there, strapped to your sweaty face! Hopefully it goes clear if it crashes and not opaque, otherwise you may end up in the tire wall, but why worry about that?
What To Use It For: Not Getting Lost
So, GPS is great, but I’ve certainly misread the center-stack screen’s map and missed and exit or accidentally turned into a ravine or Chuck-E-Cheese, thinking it was an on-ramp or something. I’ve been in cars like the BMW iX which superimposed arrows onto the forward-facing camera feed (see above) so you know exactly where you need to go! This could be even better with the Apple not-Google Glass Goggles Getup, as the arrows and indicators could be superimposed right over what you’re actually looking at! No more missed exits for you, dummy! And by “you” I mean “me!”
What To Use It For: Wrenching
It’s pretty likely, really almost guaranteed, that wearing the Apple Vision Pro while driving on public streets will be illegal. Sorry, dorks, that’s just how it’s probably going to be. But, don’t fret! If you still want to wear over three grand of computing hardware on your face while doing car shit, I think there’s at least one good reason to: wrenching.
Yes, wrenching. In fact, this is one of the most proven uses of augmented-reality vision systems, with companies like Boeing having developed these systems for years to aid in aircraft manufacture. Here, look at this:
Boeing has been using these sorts of setups to show where complex wiring need to be installed in airplanes, right there in the field of vision of technicians who can look at a part of the fuselage and see exactly what and where things need to go.
This could be done for cars as well, with databases of engines used so the system can identify what’s being looked at, and load appropriate diagrams and procedures that you can see right there in your vision. Like, let’s say I wanted to change the timing belt on my Nissan Pao; I’d tell the system what I wanted to do, open my hood, look at the engine, and then the app would identify where I needed to focus, load diagrams, and prepare procedures that would be shown on screen and talk me through audibly:
Hopefully it’ll translate the Japanese text there, too. Crap, I have to get the paid version to do that? Ugh.
This all should be possible, really: specific engines and procedures could be loaded in ahead of time, videos or 3D simulations could walk you through the process, and then when it comes to doing it, you’d have everything you need to see and work with called out right there, visually, hopefully even able to “see” through layers of grime and oil. This actually could be pretty fantastic. Of course, the pretty white plastic bits on the Apple Vision Pro are going to get filthy, so try not to be too fussy about that.
Or, Here Are Some $3,500 Cars Instead
Maybe wait until Apple Vision Pro 3 comes out for $199 in two years and just buy one of these cars instead. Like this 1983 BMW 750iL:
Or maybe this 2004 Saab convertible! It’s even $300 cheaper than the Apple Vision Pro!
I bet you can talk this seller down $100 and get this strikingly-colored ’68 Beetle for $3,500!
I’m about certain you can find so so many more for sale, too. Because you chose not to buy an Apple Vision Pro, it’s like you got $3,500 free! So you really should spend it on a car, right?
Since AI generally tries to learn from past experience, it’s gonna take one look at Torch’s history and decide everything can be fixed with a chainsaw!
I have used AR style stuff as a technician, a couple of manufacturers I have worked with use it for tech support. It was… OK…
It was nice to be able to make sure the engineer and I were looking at the same thing but I have done that in the past just texting and emailing pics. One of the ones I used I had to be holding the phone to the equipment for the engineer to see what I was seeing which then made it impossible/difficult to interact with the machine. It just wasn’t super useful beyond what can be done with a phone and some pics and diagrams sent over email.
After learning some basic Japanese I am still amazed how often it’s just phonetic english, especially in technical documents.
Case in point, the engine diagram for Torch’s Pao:
I’d buy this but I just spent almost that same money on a ’70 Opel GT so now I’m broke but have ANOTHER car project!
Winning.
AR Racing goggles have been something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. They present an awesome case for almost any usage.
First time track driver? Here’s a sim with lines telling you where to go, when to brake, and when to accelerate. Now we’re on the track with the same lines. Run 10 laps, now we’re going to go to just braking lines, now we turn it off completely. Boom, you train a newbie in an hour to drive a track competently.
Weekend racer? Here’s a set of goggles that will give you live telemetry, gauges, lap times, and anything you could want. This data is uploaded to a cloud service so you can access it after your session and find where you can improve next session.
Full time racer? You’ve got lap information, other cars numbers and driver information, real time telemetry updates from your crew chief. You get safety information, tire information, anything you could want in front of you if you need it.
The possibilities are endless, just need a good system to work them with.
wow, i hadn’t thought about that apple-vision animation since junior high. two thumbs up for narrative quality and artistic direction. between this, and one of the commenters bringing up Battlezone last week, i feel positively giddy with youth.
God, I love the old shark nose BMWs so much. Just look at it!
I hope Apple chose their press release music for the vision pro more cautiously than using the ice cream truck song with a really racist backstory.
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/08/14/902664184/an-ice-cream-truck-jingles-racist-history-has-caught-up-to-it
I wondered why the ice cream truck in my neighborhood always plays Greensleeves or Home on the Range. This explains it.
My son went through a period of being obsessed with ice cream trucks and we’ve heard all the jingles 1000 times each. Picnic is by far the best. We blasted that one on repeat the Halloween that he was an ice cream man.
1978, not on the radar, at all. People still spoke well of Gone With The Wind, as well. In northern locales like where i grew up we didn’t give much thought to Dixie or the Stars and Bars until the ’80s, if then. though, i grew up in an older neighborhood too (still saw doughboys in uniform on veterans day).
Yeah, I know. I’m just poking some fun at a company that likes to at least have the appearance of fighting for social good. But I watched Dukes of Hazzard religiously and never gave a second thought to a car named for a Confederate general, with the stars-and-bars roof and Dixie horn.
I’ve long said that the ideal use case for mixed/augmented reality goggles/glasses is technical and industrial work. Overlay a schematic, relay information to others in enclosed spaces, or even make and use videos of work. It also means that companies with deep pockets can be the early buyers, allowing a ramp up to larger-scale, cheaper production. Racing practice is definitely another good option,
Of course, that’s not how tech companies have gone with this. Getting early adopters excited will probably work for Apple, and they will sell a ton.
I remember thinking that the real potential of Google Glass was for service personnel to transmit exactly what they are looking at and/or pointing at in real time to a remote team and get feedback on the lens and/or audio. Obviously it was never realized, but that’s exactly the kind of thing we’re talking about here.
Can they tell me who the imposter is?
Red was lookin’ kinda sus
My wife would use these goggles to see through the BS I spew when I rationalize getting a project vehicle. I think the $3500 should be best spent on parts, and when I say parts I actually mean house stuff.
Hah! I’m about to get a lovely backdated pay rise, which I want to use to upgrade all my fencing gear (new swords! Shiny!). My gf thinks we need a new couch. She’s wrong, obviously.
BMW made a video in 2007 (!) of how that would look like with cool terminator glasses:
https://youtu.be/Y5ywMb6SeGc
“Okay, let’s say you have a colon problem that makes you shit $100 bills so you can comfortably buy one of these.”
This is the quality writing that keeps me regular at The Autopian.
It’s lines like these that you won’t get on the traditional auto sites!
https://youtu.be/CIltL_Qhro8
“Insurance? He’s got money coming out the wazoo!”
absolute classic
I was naked while watching the Apple-Vision Demo, but luckily I got some pants close so I could shat in them.
Are the Beetle’s fenders black? If they are, ugly. Or are they purple? If, awesome!
I’ll take the Beetle! How is it so cheap?! What a deal w/ all that’s been done to it
I was about to say: that thing is at LEAST four Porschelumps.
Also, I know exactly what I’d do with the goggles: post about Cayennes in the comments of The Morning Dump during my morning dump. Duh.
Apple Vision would pay for itself if it could point me to all the 10mm sockets I’ve lost while wrenching.
“Are your mechanics ASE Certified?”
“No, but we got these things.”
Great, this is gonna be how AI takes over even trade jobs when it’s done with everything else.
Just slap some Apple Vision Goggles on any able bodied moron and put em to work for cheap cheap cheap.
What’s $3,500 to a corporation compared to the costs of training, retention and the wages required to obtain experienced workers.
I’m glad I’m getting old and have no children. I prefer not to see this future unfold.
It’s a neat idea, but so was splitting atoms.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some bushcrafting skills to hone.
Hopefully I can hack it and die in whatever remaining wilderness hasn’t been mowed over by overlanders, before they start selling law degree goggles at Costco.
welcome to Costco I love you
Love you too Mr_Stabby.
Any relation to Roberto (b. 3001)?
Fifty-six? Fifty-six?!!!
C’mon, man. Olds have been saying this in every generation for all of time. It’s going to be okay. Or it’s not.
In the meantime, become a privacy law and cybersecurity expert and your job is safe for another decade. 🙂
Good advice. I’ll just drop a bunch of retirement money I don’t have to go back to school and completely change careers at the age of… however old I am.
Why didn’t I think of that? I’m sure ageism doesn’t apply to those careers.
You might as well tell me modern life can be better if I become a butterfly.
Sounds great but… I happen to be constrained by reality.
I think the goggles have a ton of potential, but they’re going to need a year (at least) in developers hands to start to do the things you’re looking for. Cool beans, and I will eventually have something like this, but not until gen2 at the earliest.
If you’re using VR goggles on a track, do the goggles mock you when you miss an apex? If you use them for wrenching, do they laugh when you strip a bolt? HAHAHAHA YOU’RE SO FUCKED!
I still ride a horse, so I’m definitely not ready for these AR goggles.
What, your to good to wear the blinders too?
Introducing HorseWare! A heads up display (HUD) which shows you real time data on your horse’s bio-telemetry, GoogleMaps(TM) integration, and Pl@ntNet visual flora identification.
Leave the goggles. Take the cannoli, ah, car.
I’d rather have that awesome Beetle. $3500 for a pair of “I’m a tech-d-bag!” ski goggles or a slow-but-fun you-shift-it popcorn-fart emitting smile generator? That’s no choice at all for people who read this site…
Isn’t the timing belt on a Nissan Pao just one of those rubber bands they put on lobster claws? That shouldn’t require VR to replace.
Jason should have at least two of those somewhere, from the time he saved THE LOBSTER EMPEROR from it’s terrible restaurant fate.