Admittedly, the different patents on the Apple Car are the most fun. Among all of them you can mount a really curious car. The latest patented idea is that of use screens outside the vehicle to give directions to other vehicles and road users.
Information displayed in the form of text or signs
The “Exterior Lighting and Warning System” patent includes an idea that, although it may seem somewhat bizarre, can be very useful in the face of good coexistence between autonomous vehicles and other drivers. The idea, in short, is to install a strip of lights around the entire vehicle in the vehicle in which to display information.
This strip of lights could fulfill such diverse purposes such as signaling that a door has remained unlocked when leaving the vehicle, confirming that the alarm has been activated, welcoming when arriving at the car or communicating information to other drivers. Information such as that the safety distance is insufficient, for example, that the speed is going to be reduced or that it is safe to cross the zebra crossing where the vehicle is stopped.
The truth is that there are certain behaviors in cars driven by humans that are easily identifiable and that they are not so clear in autonomous cars who drive on a much more regular basis. Therefore, a communication at a visual level can be the most interesting.
As we have said on other occasions, not all patents on the Apple Car will take shape in the final vehicle. Many of these documents end up collecting ideas that are abandoned or evolve into others. There are still a few years until we see how all the pieces that are appearing in the form of patents fit together to create a car.