A Google patent outlines several different ways in which one of its autonomous cars could be made to "crumple" to minimise impact in the event of a collision. The idea is that moving panels of bodywork would limit the severity of injuries should a person be hit.
In its patent, the firm said the system might prove useful when an "impact with an object cannot be avoided by way of braking, steering, and/or accelerating the vehicle".
The BBC reports that several different systems are mentioned. One would see bumper sections of wings fixed using pins that could be broken by actuators on the car's chassis. The actuators would be triggered immediately prior to impact, breaking the pins and making the panel pull back.
Another method would see panels fixed to hinges or grooves, allowing them to be pulled back as an object was struck.
"Automated cars have the potential to 'see' more and react faster than human drivers but they'll never completely eliminate collisions," said a spokeswoman for the AA. "It's important that companies developing the vehicles of the future still consider what happens and how injuries can be mitigated when they do occur."
Google has previously patented a sort of human flypaper material for car bonnets. The idea is that the adhesive layer would grip and hold pedestrians – and presumably cyclists – in the event that they were hit. Many crash injuries are not caused by the initial collision, but when the pedestrian is thrown from the car onto the ground.
Speaking at the time, a Google spokeswoman said the existence of a patent doesn't necessarily mean that a new product is on the way. "We hold patents on a variety of ideas. Some of those ideas later mature into real products and services, some don't."
Got to say I looked at the comments section with some dread but.... most people on their are in support of the marathon and frankly could not...
Interesting..... but perhaps I'll wait for the LIdl or Aldi copy and save a couple of hundred quid.....
Personally, I just have orange squash as my drink on pretty much all my rides.
Surely it doesn't matter whether the sun is in your eyes or not. If it is you slow down to a speed where you can stop in the distance you can see...
isreal has been brutally killing children for 6 months. Over 14000 children have been burnt, crushed, bombed, shot in the head, killed by missiles,...
The change in running shoes has come in the last five years or so, the TdF analysis goes until 2010, so before, as I pointed out above....
It's not censored if you just pirate it
an example of Kesgraves "best cycling infrastructure in the country" https://maps.app.goo.gl/GsCMbzDUTPdq59qS9
It turns out that that is national police policy. We found out from this process that there is national 'secured by design' policy which causes...
Been available for quite a while, full GRX mechanical 12 speed. Probably around the same time as 105 mechanical 12 speed if I were to guess.