“As autonomous driving technology advances, technologies related to the full range of driving of autonomous vehicles are being developed,” reads a new patent. "In technologies related to self-driving cars, a device and method are being studied that can effectively transmit notification information about the status of the self-driving car or notification information related to the driving of the self-driving car to an oncoming vehicle or "Pedestrians."
Our first thought was "A regular screen will definitely do that." But if you're making millions of cars, something like the electric Ioniq 6 will be equipped with similar technology and flip up. The point method is cheaper, easier to repair, and uses less electricity. The patent does note that the system would require lights on the grille or behind the dots to illuminate a message, possibly "This vehicle is in autonomous mode."
The patent includes a description of a control unit that transmits signals. We hope this means the driver can control the messaging on the grille. It also says it can be configured to work with turn signals, and the flip points can be programmed to open to varying degrees, allowing different amounts of light through to display different messages.
This task of letting cars and pedestrians know which mode the car is in will become even more important in the future, which is why Hyundai has already mentioned it for the Ioniq. If we were to guess, this display would look great on a non-American Staria minivan.
In busy cities - which will be on most roads in the near future - it will be helpful to actually know which cars are driving themselves. That’s not to say we’ll never step off the side of the road when a self-driving car approaches, but we might speed up just in case. Once these cars talk to each other via V2V communications, sharing data will become even more important for people and vehicles.
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