Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (number US 11838709 B1) for “Systems With Hidden Openings” for heating/cooling on a vehicle.
About the patent
The patent generally to structures with openings and, more particularly, to structures with openings that overlap components. In the patent Apple notes that systems such as vehicles and other systems have electronic components and components that handle tasks such as heating and cooling. In an Apple Car these components may be overlapped by layers of material such as cloth, polymer, or leather.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A system such as a vehicle, building, vessel, aircraft, or electronic device system may have a layer of material with invisible laser-drilled openings. The layer of material may include an outer layer of fabric overlapping an inner layer such as an inner foam layer. Laser-drilled openings may include outer openings in the fabric layer and inner openings in the foam layer. Each of the inner openings may be overlapped by multiple outer openings.
“The exposed surface of the fabric layer may have strands of material of different appearances and/or may otherwise be configured to help visually hide the laser-drilled openings. Laser-drilled openings may also have small sizes to help make the laser-drilled openings invisible. Laser-drilled openings may overlap components such as audio components, heating and cooling components, and/or light-emitting components.”
When might we see an Apple Car?
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that Apple’s work on the Apple Car has “lost all visibility at the current time. He has noted that if Apple does not adopt some kind of acquisition strategy to make inroads in the automotive market, it is unlikely that the Apple Car will be able to go into mass production “within the next few years.”
On. Nov. 18, 2021, Bloomberg reported that Apple was accelerating development on its “Apple Car.” The article said that the electric vehicle will be self-driving and could roll out in 2025.
