Waymo just get a patent that could help save lives in the case of the violation of a pedestrian. The system has a performance that seems straight out of a story science-fiction: the car body reduces its stiffness only in the part where is going to collide with a person.
The american company has dedicated the vast majority of its activity to the development of the driving autonomously. For this reason, it is not surprising that their cars have sensors left over to detect the pedestrian and act accordingly. At the time at which this occurs, the central computer sends an order that destensa the cables that maintain the rigidity of a part of the vehicle. In this way, the outer panel may be deformed and absorb all the impact.
How the system works, which softens the car Waymo
The merit of this system that softens the car lies not only in reacting to a obstacle, but to differentiate between a person and inanimate objects that could damage the integrity of the car. In this area, Waymo takes a lot of time working for your computer to be able to make this difference and many others as cyclists, bikers, or even a traffic police officer giving signals (recently searched for drivers for their tests). Applications of technology could go even further, because their cars would be able to react differently depending on the type of obstacle. It is not the same a bike than a car, and, of course, is not the same as a car approaching at 20 km/h that is one-to-100 km/h.
The patent system that softens the car was introduced in 2015 by the division of driving an autonomous Google, and is now Waymo which happens to be its owner. This change of hands is very understandable if one takes into account that both companies are subsidiaries of the same multinational, and that a large part of the team of Waymo are the same people that made up the defunct division driving autonomous from Google.
Waymo is one of the companies most advanced in the development of the technologies that allow a vehicle to circulate by itself. A good example of this is the report of the Department of Motor Vehicles of California, the equivalent of the DGT of the area of the united States. According to this institution, Waymo is light years ahead of the rest of brands in the number of miles you travel your vehicle without the need of human intervention.
According to the document, which records data up to November 2016, their cars have gotten to go through an average of 8.251 km, no one person has had to be done with the control. A figure very remarkable taking into account that BMW, which is the second largest brand in the ranking, has come 1.026 km, Ford 315 km, General Motor 55 km and Nissan 45 km
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