The touch multi-function steering wheel can even shift gears directly.
In the patent application No.20200039558, Tesla submitted the multifunctional interactive technology of the steering wheel, which was equipped with a full touch panel. The panel supports rich gesture-touch interaction behaviors, including clicking, double-clicking, hovering and sliding. The touch area also provides feedback reactions such as light, sound and vibration, and the functions of interacting with users include infotainment system and automatic driving. For example, the cruising speed and car-following distance of autopilot are controlled by tapping+sliding up/down/left/right with fingers in a specific touch area, the touch panel will vibrate and give feedback, and the central control panel will pop up the corresponding feedback interface.
Of course, the full touch steering wheel is not the latest technology, and some car manufacturers have put it into market application. However, on the patent drawing provided by Tesla, we found that there is a gear sign on the lower part of the steering wheel, which indicates that they are likely to use steering wheel operations such as touching to shift gears. Although the current patent description does not specifically mention the relevant technical details, we believe that Tesla is trying different methods to replace the traditional shift operation.
Remove stains like a laser weapon
Among these patents, one technology sounds a bit crazy-cleaning stains on glass with laser pulses. Tesla's patent application technology 20 19035 1873 mentioned a special cleaning system for the surface of glass products, which focused the high-pulse laser beam emitted by optical elements on the surface of stains, so that the stains could evaporate or peel off instantly. The detection control system can accurately detect the position and size of the area where the stain is located, and adjust the working thresholds such as laser power density, pulse number, incident angle and wavelength to achieve the best cleaning effect.
Compared with traditional mechanical physical cleaning and chemical cleaning, laser cleaning technology has the characteristics of high efficiency, rapidity, no pollution, no noise, no damage to the surface of the cleaned product and no impact on human health, and has a long-term application prospect. Laser cleaning technology has been widely used in many precision industrial fields, but Tesla's idea is still relatively advanced, and it should be put on a commercial vehicle.
Of course, this does not mean that traditional wipers will be replaced soon. Before laser cleaning is further popularized, Tesla's windshield still needs to use our familiar wiper to remove stagnant water. However, on the basis of the traditional mechanical wiper, Tesla also proposed a patent to control the wiper through magnetic levitation technology, which made the wiper more efficient and durable, and also created better working conditions for the driver's auxiliary sensing system behind the windshield. As for laser cleaning technology, we can imagine that Tesla will also be applied to other surfaces in the future, such as getting rid of the embarrassing title of "fingerprint collector" on LCD touch screen.
Remember the Totoro in Miyazaki Hayao?
There is a big cat bus in Miyazaki Hayao's movie My Neighbor Totoro, which is a combination of vehicles and cats. Just like a big cat, it can feel the passengers sitting inside, and it also makes people feel warm and safe. Let's also see if the following two technologies have this meaning. Tesla's patent application No.20 190003877 describes that the data of the occupants are collected by new sensors distributed on the seats, and the system will analyze the data, identify and classify the occupants, and automatically adjust the working state of the airbag and other systems. Simply put, if you sit in Tesla's chair, it will know whether you are fat or thin, tall or short, always young or middle-aged "migrant workers", and it will also know whether you are sitting, lying or standing upside down, and accordingly turn on or off the airbag somewhere to prevent the airbag from popping up untimely and hurting you in a collision accident.
Another patented technology closely related to the safety of vehicle occupants is the safety belt use monitoring technology (patent application No.20190168710). This technology collects and analyzes the occupant's seat belt usage status through the sensors in the seat belt and seat. Of course, it is not as simple as putting on the seat belt and turning off the indicator light. The system can accurately identify whether passengers use seat belts correctly. In the past, the seat belt was left behind and the left arm straddled the seat belt. A popular seat belt buckle was accurately judged by the system as abnormal use of the seat belt. In addition to expressing the sincerity of "safety first" to users, such strict monitoring measures are also very important for Tesla to legally avoid product security loopholes.
Other noteworthy Tesla patent applications also include the technology described as "holographic decorative glass for screen color matching", which is to improve the display effect of the display screen. Due to the characteristics of pixel structure, the color effect of the display screen is highly dependent on the angle of the viewer's gaze, and even a high-resolution screen can't improve this problem. Tesla tried to solve this problem by placing holographic film and refractive index matching glue in the glass, and finally provided the best display effect for passengers in all positions.
There is also the Autopilot autopilot assistance system that is being fully upgraded. With the blessing of Dojo neural network, vehicles can achieve more complex automatic driving control capabilities, and related new technologies are constantly reflected in Tesla's patent application. Of course, we can't forget a lot of core engineering technologies that Tesla has accumulated in terms of technology platform, body structure, battery cells, power management and electric drive. Interested friends can click on the following link to view Tesla's related intellectual property patent records.
Tesla patent
Bangping branch
Although the dazzling array of Tesla patents let us see the frontiers of science and technology in all dimensions, please don't rush to "climax". Many of them are just patent applications. Even if the patented technology is approved, it will not necessarily appear on the Tesla you want to buy in the future. It is not excluded that some technologies are likely to be sealed in patent books forever. Of course, Tesla's attitude towards technological innovation is indeed very positive. In addition to paving the way for your own products, a very important motivation is to give investors confidence. What Wall Street always covets most is a big cake with the words "subversive revolution", which is of course chef elon musk's specialty. Yes, Chef Ma is not only good at making western-style desserts, but also needs to satisfy the appetite of diners all over the world-if you want to ask what else is delicious, it is of course the leek box.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.