# We're being scanned! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966 "2015-03-02T00:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/1 "2015-03-02T00:38:58Z")
OK, I’ve seen the Google cars. And the Bing cars. But, I’ve never seen anything like [this](http://cl.ly/image/3T1B2o1j3z06). The cylinder at the back was duplicated on the front, and both were spinning - I assume to take 360° photos. Anyone have an idea who’s car this is? There were no markings. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/2 "2015-03-02T00:48:10Z")
That looks like one of the [Apple vans](http://www.macworld.com/article/2879972/mysterious-apple-van-fuels-speculation-about-self-driving-car-or-maps-overhaul.html) sucking up all the data. Congratulations, you are now ibeowulff. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/3 "2015-03-02T00:55:43Z")
If you can determine the function of the line connecting the rear roof blob (technical term) to the aft port (HA!) wheel, you will probably be able to answer your question. At first I thought it may be tracking wheel rotation to determine distance, but distance without heading not much good, and GPS would be much easier. I’m guessing it has something to do with an automated car. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/4 "2015-03-02T01:28:48Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > I’m guessing it has something to do with an automated car. I think it’s much more likely that it has something to do with Apple mapping/3D street view or something like that. In fact, it cannot be an automated car because “analyst” Rob Enderle was the first person to suggest it was an automated car (his only reasoning was that it had a lot of cameras), and it is an established scientific universal concrete fact that Rob Enderle is always wrong about everything he says about Apple. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/5 "2015-03-02T01:53:00Z")
Yeah, for us it was the mysterious bee that hovered in front of the house after my father revealed state secrets and then my friend looked on the internet and showed me how the government had spent millions to send up a satellite to take a picture of me, and I swear all I was doing was watering the pansies. And that was before the voices started. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/6 "2015-03-02T02:18:04Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > That looks like one of the [Apple vans](http://www.macworld.com/article/2879972/mysterious-apple-van-fuels-speculation-about-self-driving-car-or-maps-overhaul.html) sucking up all the data. > > Congratulations, you are now ibeowulff. That’s actually pretty cool (that it’s Apple). iThink therefore iAm. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/7 "2015-03-02T06:39:55Z")
Scanners Live in Vain. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/8 "2015-03-02T07:05:20Z")
Now they live in vans. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/9 "2015-03-02T12:27:03Z")
nanotechnology: now they live in vein ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-being-scanned/713966/10 "2015-03-02T13:58:46Z")
You don’t need a weathervane to tell you which way the Apple falls from the tree.