Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to Project Titan, Apple’s long term project involving work on future autonomous electric vehicles. Today’s granted patent specifically covers door and roof configurations for passenger and/or cargo vehicles.
Apple’s patent Abstract: “A vehicle includes a vehicle body, a first panel assembly that is movable between a closed position and an open position with respect to a first opening of the vehicle body, a second panel assembly that is movable between a closed position and an open position with respect to a second opening of the vehicle body, a front seat that faces rearward and is accessible from the first opening and the second opening, and a rear seat that faces forward and is accessible from the first opening and the second opening.”
Apple’s patent FIG. 34 below is a block diagram that shows an example of a future autonomous vehicle; FIG. 2 is a detailed side view of the vehicle body.
Apple’s patent first series of patent figures below 4, 5 & 6 represent door and roof panel Assemblies in a closed position; Apple’s second series of patent figures 7, 8 & 9 represent door and roof panel assemblies in an open position.
Apple’s patent FIG. 20 above is just one of the alternative door and assembly designs illustrating a single sliding door opened to the right.
The patent does at times veer off to describe other aspects of these future autonomous vehicles. In one segment, Apple’s patent states:
“The controller directs and controls operation of the vehicle and may allow operation in any of a manual control mode, a semi-autonomous control mode, or an autonomous control mode.
The controller may determine operating parameters, settings, and/or commands for components of systems of the vehicle using sensor outputs that are provided to the controller from the sensor system.
The present disclosure recognizes that the use of a user’s personal information data can be used to the benefit of users. For example, the personal information data can be used to control automated vehicle systems to pick up and drop off users at designated locations.”
For details and more patent figures, review Apple’s granted patent 11,420,505.
In January, Patently Apple posted an IP report titled “Apple won two Project Titan patents today covering a futuristic Multi-Linkage Vehicle Door Hinge & vehicle seat with Reclining Mechanism,” that covered work on the same aspect of vehicle doors and seating that could provide readers with a fuller understanding of this segment of Apple’s future vehicle(s).
