Google Patents Adhesive Layer to Prevent Secondary Impact in Crashes
Google’s self-driving car project has already logged more than 1.5 million miles since they began testing autonomous cars in 2014, but a recent patent has been turning heads in the automotive safety industry.
In the wake of the first accident caused by one of their self-driving cars a few months ago, Google received a patent this week to put a strong adhesive layer onto the front of their vehicles. Originally filed in 2014, the system is designed to keep a pedestrian on the hood of the car after being hit.
Here’s how it works. The purpose of the system is to prevent secondary impacts. A secondary impact occurs when a pedestrian hits something else immediately after being struck by a car, usually the top of the car, another vehicle, or the surface of the road. Secondary impacts often cause the most serious injuries.
“Ideally, the adhesive layer on the front portion of the vehicle will be activated on contact and will be able to adhere to the pedestrian nearly instantaneously,” the patent description states.
“This instantaneous action will constrain the movement of the pedestrian and carry the victim 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, bringing both vehicle and pedestrian to a safe stop,” the description continues.
While this human flypaper patent prevents secondary impacts, it’s not perfect. The legs of the pedestrian could get stuck under the vehicle, causing more injuries. The trapped pedestrian will also travel wherever the car goes, and the vehicle may not always immediately stop after impact. However, the technology could potentially lower the number of hit and runs, as the pedestrian would still be attached to the car if the driver tries to leave the scene of an accident.
To avoid bugs, dirt and other debris from sticking to the car during normal driving, the hood is coated with an eggshell like material. This material breaks upon impact, temporarily gluing the pedestrian to the car.
It is still unclear if Google will put this new technology on their self-driving cars in the future. A representative told the San Jose Mercury News, “we hold patents on a variety of ideas. Some of those ideas later mature into real products and services, some don’t.”
