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GM’s Cruise Patents Automatic Seat Belt Damage Detection

General Motors subsidiary Cruise has filed a patent application for a system that can automatically detect when a seat belt’s webbing has become damaged or frayed.

This GM patent filing has been assigned application number US 2022/0024405 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and was published on January 27th, 2022. It’s titled “automated detection of seatbelt webbing damage” and lists Chase Kauffman and Jeffrey Brandon of Arizona as the inventors.

While the technology described in this patent application may seem advanced on the surface, it’s actually fairly simple, judging by the abstract product description in the filing. According to the document, the seat belt’s strip of webbing would include an embedded conductive material configured to measure electrical flow. The processing circuitry is configured to receive the measurement of electrical flow from the sensor and to generate an alert based on the measurement. In other words, if the computer detects the electrical flow has been interrupted, it will determine the seat belt webbing to be damaged.

The drawings included in the filing show what are clearly the Honda-designed seats for the Cruise Origin, which are not used on any other vehicle. This technology would only really be useful in an unmanned vehicle like the Origin, in which there is no human operator that would inspect for wear and tear inside the vehicle. We could see this tech being used to automatically put a Cruise Origin robotaxi out of service if a seat belt is damaged, reducing the chances of an occupant being injured in a crash.

The Cruise Origin is set to enter production at the GM Factory Zero plant in Michigan next year. The purpose-built, battery-electric robotaxi will be used by Cruise to operate a driverless ride-hailing service akin to Uber or Lyft. It will be interesting to see if the production model integrates the damaged seat belt detection technology described in this patent application, or if GM will utilize regular belts in the vehicle at first.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. gm should be working on a urine/faeces/vomit sensor and ejector seat.

    Reply
  2. I wonder if this idea originated from a brain storming session on how to make up for lost service department revenue because of EV adoption? Naw, gm was probably just worried about another dangling key in the ignition lawsuit.

    Reply
  3. Those seats look so comfy for long journeys! Almost like the wooden benches they have in the park!

    Reply

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