Apple recently filed a patent application for a touch-screen navigation system that, in typical fashion, the company claims is smarter than all of the other nav systems currently available.
The patent app includes a description of a nav system that would have a touch-screen interface and use GPS and an accelerometer to tell if a vehicle is moving, as well as sensors to determine whether the driver or passenger is operating the system.
If the vehicle is in motion and the driver attempts to operate the system, the user interface locks and a warning pops up. Nothing new there, since many OEM and aftermarket systems do the same thing.
But if a passenger riding shotgun is detected by a weight sensor in the seat as well as the angle of their touch input relative to the screen, the interface unlocks. Additional settings would also allow other system features to be accessible or inaccessible based on driving conditions, the experience of the driver and user preferences.
The patent application indicates that the nav system could be configured in both permanently installed and portable versions, suggesting that the patent could be applied to the iPhone and iPod touch in addition to factory-installed systems.
Like all Apple patents, the filing doesn't mean that Steve Jobs will unveil an iNav at the next MacWorld, but simply reveals the company's research in the area.
G-Map already offers a turn-by-turn navigation application for the iPhone 3G, although Apple recently pulled it from its App Store. So maybe that means we will see Apple's nav system sooner than later.
AppleInsider and iLounge
billt9 says:
08:13 PM, 03/27/09
Apple must be really smart to figure out how to make it fool proof. They're smart.
Theoretically a driver can just twist his hand so as if his finger is coming from the right of the screen. And put some weight on the passenger seat.
I'm sure Apple's smart enough to come up with a system to laugh at that moron driver who tries to defy Apple's system. Let the Apple control You.