The Guardian reports that Google have been granted a patent for an adhesive applied to the front end of a vehicle as a safety measure in pedestrian collisions.
The patent description is quoted thusly;
“Ideally, the adhesive coating on the front portion of the vehicle may be activated on contact and will be able to adhere to the pedestrian nearly instantaneously.”
“This instantaneous or nearly-instantaneous action may help to constrain the movement of the pedestrian, who may be carried on the front end of the vehicle until the driver of the vehicle (or the vehicle itself in the case of an autonomous vehicle) reacts to the incident and applies the brakes.”
“As such, both the vehicle and pedestrian may come to a more gradual stop than if the pedestrian bounces off the vehicle.”
Frankly, I’m speechless.
Almost. I mean, Google have probably shown us the future of hood ornaments better than any Supermarionation television show ever could.
But I do wonder how hard it will be keeping the front end of these cars otherwise clean.
WHISKY
TANGO
FOXTROT
Yep. Oscar Mike Foxtrot Golf.
November Foxtrot Whisky
This development will require rewriting the rules of “car surfing”!
Is that from “The Thunderbirds” or “Captain Scarlet”?
Lady Penelope’s Roller from ‘Thunderbirds’.
F-A-B, Father!
I see a new kind of ‘art car’ coming to Portland soon if this happens. Should have saved this for April 1st!
There is a lot of picketing in the streets of down town Minneapolis in the last couple months, what happens if multiple people come in contact with the front of the car, only the first sticks. So I can blame all the others down on that first one. Hmmmm I could clear the streets of trouble makers. (-:
So…has the impact shattered the pedestrian into pieces, or are those bullet holes in the front of the car? I’m a little concerned about the backstory behind this “safety” feature. Has the self-driving car gone rogue, tearing through the city scooping up terrified citizens while the police blast away in a futile attempt to stop the rampage?
I’m thinking the pieces labeled “232” represent the shattered remains of a picture someone placed in front of the pedestrian.
Like the “tunnels” that our favorite cartoon Roadrunner used to paint on the side of the mountain, the picture mirrored the roadside landscape perfectly, and it was only after the autonomous car plowed through this flimsy barrier that it (like the hapless coyote) realized things were not as they seemed.
Some may call this an unlikely scenario, but I’d respond that it’s no more unlikely than a sticky hood designed to capture errant pedestrians…
?????
Suddenly a new method of crime arises: drive through a street vendor’s stall and drive away with the goods firmly attached!
This may change car chase scenes involving the coincidentally-placed fruit cart, just as cell phones have changed the way people in movies appear to talk on the phone.
There are likely some people that would rather be dead from a car hitting them than get stuck to hood of said car and have the ass rip out of their pants upon being removed.
This will also be really pretty after hitting deer, dogs, cats, raccoons, opossums, etc. There is no washing off fur and feces with this.
Well it will make hunting Deer with your vehicle easier
+1 but you might have trouble eating it…
Just eat the meat from the non-bruised side.
There is also something to be said for bouncing off the hood while the car continues to smash into other obstacles as it comes to a stop.
That’s certainly how I prefer to be run over.
I suspect this will be overtaken by bonnet/vehicle profiling, active bonnets and by sensors linked to brake systems etc.
Volvo and Mercedes are already showing the way here.
“Officer, I didn’t solicit a prostitute. She stuck to my hood.”
I got whomped by an SUV driven by a cellphoning teenager in 2008. Fortunately the car was just turning a corner, around 10 MPH. No broken bones, but I did use up all my AAAAAAAAs as I was thrown forward, up, and down. One wheel ran over the edge of my left foot, but the “throw” pulled the foot away.
If I had been forced to stick to the car, my left leg would have gone under, followed probably by the rest of me.
TERRIBLE IDEA, but not surprising. The whole point of autonomous cars is to kill all pedestrians. Pedestrians are unpersons.
Especially when they look like crash test dummies.
They’re testing autonomous Ubers here in Pittsburgh right now. What will happen when the self driving car has to pick up a virtual passenger? I want to see that. Meanwhile, The bar is closing…. I’m calling a Yellow Cab!
Oops, forgot the photo!
The question is, is this legit, or is it some elaborate practical joke created over pints in a pub? “Go on mate, submit a patent! It’ll be a laugh!”
One month and 19 days late.
I’m really glad I’ll be dying soon. Truly can’t take much more of this!
OK, I’ll hang around, ONLY if I can watch the self driving cars run amok, and exterminate their geek masters, who probably would not notice their impending doom anyway, faces buried in I-phones and such.
Pod people, just like pod people, probably will still be staring at their phones while their bodies, with shattered limbs akimbo, adhere to the hoods of the killer cars.
But seriously, with all the need in the world, this is what great minds are working on?
What?, not great minds, ah, got it!, over and out.
does it work with just people and animals or everything? I could see some guy in his cummins diesel dually getting into it with mr treehugger with his prius ramming him and tearing down the highway with a new hood ornament.
heck, there’s been instances of that now without adding the crazy glue factor!
The possibility of Google and/or any of the internet companies getting into car manufacturing has been debated here in the past; this (if it is indeed real) tells me that the texting generation is way out of its element here and should stay away.
Well Google is well known for throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. This car should now have a great chance of success.
Well, it would eliminate hit and runs.
My sister got hit in a marked crosswalk by a speeding pickup in the mid ’60’s while we were walking home from church. My other sister and I had run ahead of her and were already across the street (Powell and 79th). She was knocked out of her shoes and flew about 20 ft. from the impact. The driver was drunk, had a suspended license and sped off after hitting her. Another driver went after the truck and he was caught. My Dad was not allowed to go to court due to his repeated promises to beat the crap out of the driver. He was found “not guilty”. I have no idea how he got away with this, must have had a hell of a lawyer or a crooked judge or both.
The amazing part of this is she was out of the hospital that night, with only cuts, bruises, and abrasions.
So, I’d like to point out that this is just a patent, and patent ≠ production.
Many hilarious things are patented.
We’ve just returned from a three week, 5,000 kilometre road trip. It’s hard enough to wash all the bugs off the front of a normal car – think of the nightmare cleaning this thing would be!
IKR? Right?
Ha!