cars news 10: Google Patents Pedestrian Flypaper for Cars

Google has patented what is essentially a flypaper that sticks pedestrians to a vehicle should they be hit by an autonomous car. The tech giant sees the solution as a way to minimize crash injuries, which it says aren’t caused by the initial collision with the vehicle but when the pedestrian is thrown to the ground after the impact.

The patent describes the solution as a layer of adhesive on the front of a vehicle that pedestrians will stick to in the event of a collision with a vehicle. To prevent other objects from sticking to the adhesive in everyday driving, Google has placed a covering over it that will break in a crash to reveal the adhesive layer that sticks to pedestrians.

Google is the latest to develop a system aimed at reducing pedestrian injuries if a vehicle hits them and is doing so with self-driving cars in mind. Volvo developed a pedestrian airbag, which deploys out of the hood while Jaguar created a system that raises the car’s hood after a collision so that the pedestrian that is hit gets redirected to a softer crumple zone. Neither system, however, addresses the issue of pedestrians experiencing more serious injuries by being thrown off the car.

Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at Stanford School of Law and self-driving car expert, however, said to The Mercury News that Google’s adhesive solution could also create its own potential issues, including trapping the pedestrian and obscuring the driver’s view of what’s ahead, which could cause another accident. However, Smith continued by stating that Google should be praised for considering pedestrians’ safety. “The idea that cars should be safe for people other than the ones in them is the next generation of automotive safety,” said Smith. “I applaud anybody for thinking, as they should, about people outside of the vehicle.”

Click here for the full patent filing.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, The Verge