Apple Believed to Have Swiss Facility Contributing to Develop Many New Products

Apple has been said to have been operating a Switzerland-based development facility for the better part of over six years. While the business of this facility has largely been kept quiet, it’s now believed that the team is contributing to many upcoming projects.

In the past, this research house has been referred to as ‘Zurich Vision Lab’.  As reported by AppleInsider, this facility has been in operation since as early as 2017. Throughout the years, it’s been believed that this facility is contributing in some way to the long-rumoured Apple Car. However, further reports claim that this team may have its hands on the reported AR/VR headset and Siri.

According to MacPrime, this Zurich facility has been recruiting new personnel for a number of projects. This recruitment process has been underway for around four years and spans many teams including Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Robotics, AI, and Autonomous Systems. In a deep report on what this facility has up its sleeve, MacPrime has not been able to uncover any specific references to an electric Apple vehicle.

Instead, many of the takeaways are purely conjecture. The reference to autonomous systems may not be directly tied to a self-driving Apple Car. Instead, it could be for any number of internal projects like drones, warehouse robots, etc.

It’s also noted that in one of Apple’s recruitment posts, Apple is said to claim the facility is an “interface between modern ML, robotics and data science,” that seeks to propel the “next generation of Apple products.”

Another innovation believed to be stemming from the research centre is the FaceTime Attention Correction feature. Additionally, this centre is also believed to be working on the new infrastructure for Siri. Recruitment posts reference “new visual skills” intended to “change the way people deal with the world around them.”

Apple is typically upfront with where it hosts its R&D labs and other centres. However, if these may interfere with unannounced products, the company usually attempts to keep their existence on the down low. Given that many of these projects are yet to be fully realized, we expect this to stay this way for quite some time.