GM has filed a patent application for a new type of safety restraint that may be used in its future fully autonomous vehicles.
This GM patent filing has been assigned application number US 11/225/216/B1 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and was published on January 18th, 2022. It’s titled “blanket airbag with integrated seatbelt system” and lists Chin Hsu-Lin, Yi-pen Cheng, Scott D. Thomas, Gary L. Jones, and Paul E. Krajewski as the inventors.
The patent application describes a so-called “blanket airbag,” safety restraint system that is to be used in vehicles that feature a seat “configured to move between a substantially reclining position and a substantially sitting position.” The document describes the seat as having a dedicated compartment to store the blanket airbag, which would be located near the head of the passenger. In the event of a collision, the blanket airbag would eject from the enclosure and “substantially cover,” the body of the passenger, while separate electromechanical restraints would also deploy with the blanket to secure the passenger in. This system would ensure the driver is protected by a seatbelt and airbag in the event of a collision even if they were laying down in the reclined seat unbuckled.
Such a system wouldn’t make much sense in a regular automobile for a number of reasons. For starters, very few production cars feature seats that are able to recline far back as is shown in the patent diagrams. Regular vehicles can also utilize traditional seatbelts and airbags, as they feature normal vehicle seats, a standard cabin design and a regular steering wheel.
Future autonomous vehicles, like the Cadillac Innerspace Concept for example, may want to make use of seats that substantially reclined, however, and may also be more difficult to install traditional airbags in. This design could serve as a solution to both, then, ensuring occupants are safe even if a traditional dashboard, pillar or side-curtain airbag cannot be used. It would also offer some additional peace of mind to passengers, allowing them to comfortably fall asleep in the vehicle without worrying about their safety in the event of a crash.
Cadillac Innerspace Concept interior
This isn’t the first AV-related patent application GM has filed in recent months. It also filed to patent a system that would automatically detect when an autonomous vehicle’s seatbelts have become damaged or frayed, allowing to easily monitor an AV’s safety systems remotely. Such a system could be used on a mass-market EV like the Cruise Origin, which will enter production at its Factory Zero plant in Michigan next year.
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Comments
Nice to have a air blanket to protect sleeping passengers in a car. I wish airplanes had them, too!
They have airliners with airbags that inflate out of seatbelts. It lets them put the seats closer together or closer to hard walls, or angle them (herringbone business), all of which lets them fit more seats in. People hate them because it makes the belt bulky.
Sam: Commercial airlines are now handling and transporting passengers like Cattle Pot trucking. Air Carriers are squeezing as many people in the cabin as they can. Not for comfort but for revenue $$$. Commercial aircraft bottom cushions now only have 17.5 inches across for human buttock cheek room. Long flights have become painful and agonizing. That’s why I enjoy the big leather 60/40 bench seat in my Suburban. Lots of wiggle room.
I’ll be damned, so that’s where my 2019 Chevrolet Bolt seats originated from, the airline industry. I never thought about those torture seats.
You laugh but along with car seating, RECARO is a major airline seat manufacturer. As the name implies GM’s usual vendor Lear was also part
You laugh but along with car seating, RECARO is a major airline seat manufacturer. As the name implies GM’s usual vendor Lear was also part of the aerospace industry (descended from Bill Lear’s first company), but I don’t know the exact timing of when they were acquired/spun off from United Technologies, which does make plane seats.
“Such a system wouldn’t make much sense in a regular automobile for a number of reasons. For starters, very few production cars feature seats that are able to recline far back as is shown in the patent diagrams.”
Buick GL8 Avenir (Chinese minivan). Plus many ultra-luxury models like the Rolls Royce Phantom, but those are rare.
OMG is this the future of surface transportation? Totally skill less and boring? That future Caddy looks like a sea creature that got washed up on the beach. A bloated oversize black eel.
best concept GM could have would be getting rid of Barra and putting in someone who knows what their doing. Send her back to Yogi !!
The picture shows a deployed bag covering the head and face.
Will this affect breathing? Even after deflation, it may remain in place and cause at a minimum, panic; worse, it may be difficult to remove by the person. And if that person loses consciousness then asphyxiation is a concern.
This system makes sense for the future autonomous driving cars. What do you think, is this 10 years in the future before cars are driving by themselves on the drive from NY (or where-ever) to Florida?
Next, they’re gonna cryogenically freeze the zoned out Tik-Tockers in these freakish lounge capsules. Dumb down, censor, disarm, herd and depopulate.
Actually This system should automatically have become part of Teslas self driving option that Tesla is charging $12,000 (?) bucks for. It may have saved a few lives of those folks that actually believed that garbage that the cars could drive by themselves.
They could clean the zombies teeth and put in fillings while they’re being deprogrammed strapped down in that dental chair. I’m going for the patent on the complete robotic brainwash mobility dentistry experience.