Google unveils new Street View Camera that can fit on any car with a roof rack

Google has released a new Street View camera that can be attached to any car with a roof rack. The cute new camera shrinks the hardware down. That means with the help from Google’s new gadget, you can convert any car with a roof rack to a Google Street View car with no modifications.

Google has released this new camera and some new features for Street View as part of its 15-year celebration. It was first introduced in 2007. Since then, Google’s fleet of Street View cars has been deployed across the U.S. in different iterations. These Street View cars capture detailed photographs of the streets and places. Then they are gathered together to showcase a detailed, nearly infinite view of roads and paths seen on Google Maps.

The new camera can capture 360 views of the world. The new Street View can now show historical images of various places on Google Maps. You will now be able to go back in time and see historical images of various places in Google Maps on Android and iOS. This functionality was first introduced in 2014 and was previously available for Google Maps’ desktop version.

Previously, these Street View cars required modifications including reinforced attachment points to handle the heavy, cumbersome camera hardware up top, plus a bunch of computer equipment inside the cars. However, the new Street View camera can be simply fitted to any car as the newly-designed onboard hardware includes the computing power needed to operate the camera all in one unit, said reports.

And even though Google’s cameras have been shrinking and evolving through the years, this latest camera introduces big changes to the hardware. The new camera has a cute appearance like a owl. It smallest and cutest Google Street View camera yet. This will ship next year along with the Street View car and trekker.

According to Google, the new camera weighs around 15 pounds and has the size of a house cat. It is capable of taking high-resolution images with better processing capabilities. It can be fitted to the roof racks available on many, many cars. It packs seven discrete 20-megapixel sensors to produce 140-megapixel panoramic photographs. Google also says the new camera system is modular, and can fit lidar sensors for increased details like lane markings and road conditions.

Also Read: Google likely working on built-in snore, cough detection feature