[maxerickson]

Seems like the vehicle switch could be well explained by a big expansion in the number of vehicles (so move to something that has lower lifetime cost).

A big expansion in vehicles might be motivated by trying to have fresh imagery for most of the country.

The POI issue could just be that they just don't have a good POI database (because they all have problems).

[mynegation]

My first thought was the view angle. Notice that cameras are placed immediately on the roof of the van, so the blind spot around the van must be wide. Subaru is a smaller car _and_ cameras are raised high, probably to get very tight blind spot around the vehicle.