It is reported that Apple's four latest patents indicate that the company hopes to make the safety of autonomous driving functions the biggest selling point of the upcoming "Apple Car".
1. Airbag. The first of the four newly approved patents is called "Airbag-Based Occupant Safety System" and details what happens when your seat is not facing the dashboard or steering wheel, which airbags typically do. are placed in the above two locations. Apple has really paid attention to the details, and this is actually the second patent it has been awarded for its airbag solution. This shows that Apple is improving and iterating the design to improve security.
This patented improvement virtually eliminates the problems associated with removable seats. Unlike previous patents, it proposes a new way to deploy the airbag from an opposite surface inside the passenger compartment. However, there is no reason to think that the new patent will replace the previous design.
2. Coping with loss of control. No matter who is driving, the car will experience loss of control, or as Apple describes it, "loss of directional stability." Apple's second patent proposes that the car itself should be able to intervene in cases of loss of control, whether due to driver error or road conditions.
Electronic stability control allows the vehicle to maintain a certain degree of controllability by minimizing the difference between the desired chassis yaw angle and the measured chassis yaw angle. Ability to identify inadvertent loss of stability, and this patent focuses on how it determines this.
3. Reduce other risks. The above-mentioned patents for airbags and restored directional control are obviously mainly used when the car is moving. The third patent granted to Apple focuses on additional functionality when the car is parked. Specifically, "Dynamic Element Protection" details situations in which an Apple car might choose to lock the doors rather than letting the driver step outside into a dangerous environment.
But actually, this isn't a sensor thinking you'll slip on the ice outside your car door, it's more like an extension of familiar car systems, including proximity detectors. Typically, these sounds sound when you've gone too far in reverse and are about to hit the car behind you. In Apple's patent, the proximity sensor also calculates the "scan volume" of the car door.
4. Display the external environment. The fourth patent related to Apple car safety shows that Apple car can continuously sense the external environment. As described in the patent application, "Augmented Reality Display" describes how an Apple car could use Apple's augmented reality technology to display important information to the driver.
The patent proposes effectively combining Apple map data with external data currently sensed by the car. It also focuses on how the efficiency of sensors can be reduced, which means there is a higher need for other data sources.