Apple may have canned its Apple Car project, but it’s still being granted patents for automotive technology. The latest is patent number US 12043201 B1 for a “Deployable Panel or Rail With Reaction Surface.”
About the patent
The patent relates generally to restraint systems and specifically to restraints, supports, and anchors within restraint systems. In conventional cabins, surfaces such as a dash panel, a windshield, a door, a pillar, a roof rail, or combinations thereof can serve as anchor points and reaction surfaces for a support that deploys from a steering wheel, a roof rail, or the dash panel to prohibit an occupant from impacting these (or other) structures.
In cabins with modular seating systems, such as in seating systems that can be arranged into a configuration consistent with the cabin serving as a mobile office or a living room, options for conventional reaction surfaces and anchor points are limited. In the absence of adequate anchors or reaction surfaces, supports may be unable to be positioned effectively.
In the patent Apple offers new approaches to occupant supports. However, since there are no plans for an Apple Car, perhaps the tech giant will work with a current car manufacturer to implement such technology.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A support surface includes a support back, a housing defined within the support back, a restraint having a stowed position disposed within the housing, and a panel or a rail having a stowed position disposed within the housing.
“The support surface includes an anchor that couples an outer edge of the restraint to an outer edge of the panel or the rail. The panel or the rail is configured to guide the anchor and the restraint in traveling from the stowed positions to a deployed position spaced apart from the housing and the support back.”
