Apple’s ambitions to build a self-driving car have reportedly shifted gears over the years, but we know the company is focusing on the software side of the equation. This June, CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone maker is building autonomous systems that could power a range of different vehicles (rather than, say, working on its own Apple-branded SUVs). “We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects,” said Cook.

Now, new research from the company’s machine learning team confirms this direction, with a paper published on pre-print server arXiv describing a mapping system that could be put to a range of uses, including powering “autonomous navigation, housekeeping robots, and augmented / virtual reality.” Though, to be clear, this is just…

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