Sticky topic for Google cars

General Discussion
1

Google has patented a sticky hood for their self driving cars to catch pedestrians if the car hits someone.

2

I see two possibilities:

  1. This is a joke.

  2. Google has gone insane.

;-]

3

Naw it’s no joke the guy was interviewed the other day. Now do you really want a deer sticking to your hood? I think they must have had a seminar on thinking out of the box-entirely.

Even though the object is to avoid hitting people, the idea is to avoid someone impacting the windshield or getting tossed over the car. But mucho injuries come from the sudden stop and all your innards continuing on. So sometimes or many times it is better to avoid the hard stop and keep going. 90% of a solution is the proper identification of the problem.

4

Or perhaps both!

5

@Bing deer stuck on the hood was my first mental image! LOL

6

Lincoln grills already look like they have a dead bird stuck on the front… :smiley:

7

They probably got the idea watching those auto insurance commercials with the blood suckers attached to the windshield.

8

Even if you don’t get a deer stuck to the hood, you will get debris accumulating and impossible to clean. Leaves, sticks, paper, pebbles, dirt.

9

What if the victem has no shirt on, makes my skin crawl to think of it.

10

But they need a hood ornament to line up the pedestrian and help stick them on the hood. Ewwww.

11

Yeah but what if the woman does have a shirt on and you have to peel her off? You could get arrested. My understanding is its not like flypaper but like an egg shell that breaks with the sticky mess underneath. An auto body shop’s profit center.

We used to give out savings bonds for employee suggestions. Luckily 95% of them were never implemented and the submitter was happy getting their money and certificate.

12

At least it might help with bugs-flypaper everywhere!

13

There is supposed to be a cover over the adhesive. When something hits it hard enough, the covering is breached and someone or something sticks. It the seems to me that engineering this cover will be difficult if not impossible. Insects at high speed might have sufficient momentum to go through the cover and stick to the adhesive. I suppose they will test it and maybe we will find out how it works. I am not enthusiastic about success.