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Uber starts rolling out its own mapmaking cars
This past June, Uber struck a deal with Microsoft to acquire some of Bing's mapping tech and staff. But back then neither company was willing to disclose specific details about the agreement, with both only going as far as acknowledging it had actually happened. Now, BuzzFeed News reports that the ridesharing service has started deploying its own mapping vehicles, which are said to be the same ones Microsoft previously owned and used in its efforts to capture street data. Uber's rebranded cars (pictured above) are similar to Google's StreetView fleet, featuring a 3D spherical camera capable of snapping locations around it. An Uber spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the company's hoping the image-capturing tech will help it improve in key areas for drivers and passengers, including better route information and more accurate estimated time of arrivals.
Street View cars used to sniff out gas leaks, plots 'em on a map
Gas leaks are huge trouble. Leaky pipes are not only prone to exploding (which is already terrible, of course), they also spew out methane -- a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to climate change. The bad news is, nobody's been monitoring gas leaks closely, so Google Earth Outreach and the Environmental Defense Fund teamed up to do the job back in July. Now, the results for the project's pilot tests are out, and they confirm what everyone suspects: old gas pipes do leak a lot more than new ones. In order to effectively survey large areas, the pair attached methane-detecting sensors to Google's famous roving vehicles: Street View cars. They then sent these dual-purpose vehicles to Boston, Indianapolis and Staten Island, whose results you can see in the images after the break.
Screen Grabs: Google Street View car rolls on to set of Burn Notice
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. It looks like somebody's got a new publicist. Sure, the Google Street View car's received its fair share of bad press lately -- what with all those invasion of privacy claims -- but we wouldn't feel too sorry for the little guy. A recent episode of Burn Notice saw the camera-equipped auto make its national TV debut. It probably won't win an Emmy for its role -- it didn't have any speaking lines, after all -- but at least it's getting some positive attention. [Thanks, Pat]
