San Francisco/Washington — Apple plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve its Maps service and catch longtime leader Google, according to people familiar with the matter. The Cupertino, California-based company is assembling a team of robotics and data-collection experts that will use drones to capture and update map information faster than its existing fleet of camera-and-sensor ladened minivans, one of the people said. Apple wanted to use drones to examine street signs, track changes to roads and monitor if areas were under construction, the person said. The data would be sent to Apple teams that rapidly update the Maps app to provide fresh information to users, the person added. Apple was also developing new features for Maps, including views inside buildings and improvements to car navigation, another person familiar with the efforts said. The people asked not to be identified as they were talking about private projects. An Apple spokeswoman declined to ...
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