Apple patents way to replace car mirrors with cameras, with windshield projection

The Apple Car project may be dead, but there’s still a chance we’ll see some Apple tech in cars made by other companies – and a patent application for a way to replace car mirrors with cameras could be an interesting candidate.

Such systems already exist, with camera views shown on dashboard displays, but what Apple wants to do is instead project them onto your windshield …

Apple Car dead; long live Apple Car tech?

The Apple Car project lasted for more than a decade before the company cancelled it back in February.

The move was announced internally by Apple COO Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, who had been leading the Apple Car project since 2021.

“Apple’s most senior executives finalized the decision in recent weeks,” the report says. The project had reached a “make-or-break point” inside Apple, with Tim Cook also facing pressure from shareholders to make a decision.

But car-related patents continue to surface, raising the question of what will happen to all of that potential tech. Does Apple just let it go, or could it look to recoup at least some of its investment in Project Titan by selling patents or licenses to car makers?

Replacing car mirrors with cameras

The idea of replacing car mirrors with cameras isn’t new. Honda launched the system as an option back in 2019, for example, and the above images show this system.

But current systems display the camera feed onto dashboard screens, and what Apple’s patent application (spotted by Patently Apple) proposes instead is to project it onto the windscreen.

The driver […] must look away from the front windshield to check the mirrors before changing lanes, braking, or taking other actions. If care is not taken, the risk of collisions may be increased when the user is looking away from the front windshield in order to check the mirrors.

Cameras also have a number of other advantages over mirrors:

• Reduced drag, for better fuel efficiency and range
• Wider angle views, to reduce or eliminate blind spots
• Clearer visibility in poor weather conditions, like rain
• Elimination of glare from headlights at night
• Better night vision more generally by adjusting exposure
• Potential for automatic highlighting of threats
• A sleeker look

9to5Mac’s Take

Apple has come up with a lot of cool ideas during its ten plus years working on the car project – with just a few examples here:

• Apple Car patent describes truly smart in-car lighting
• Apple self-driving car patent describes how it can figure out where you want to go
• Apple Car external displays could use hi-viz tech to advise other road users
• Retractable steering wheel and pedals patented by Apple for Level 4 autonomous car

The fact that patents continue to emerge doesn’t mean the company is still working on the tech – patent applications take time, and are likely just working their way through the system. However, it would be a shame for all these innovations to be lost, so it would be good to see Apple selling or licensing some of the more interesting patents to existing car makers.

Images: Honda