Google's Patented 'Flypaper' In Self-Driving Cars Can Increase Pedestrian Safety

A sticky coating for car windshields that would stick to "accidentally struck pedestrians", rather like flypaper, has been patented by Google. It is an innovation that can be used by all its self-driving cars.

"The adhesive bonds the pedestrian to the vehicle so that the pedestrian remains with the vehicle until it stops and is not thrown from the vehicle," reads the patent.

The patent points out that this is not the first time that such an innovation has been attempted. These trials "include a system built by Jaguar that raises the hood of the car after an impact to provide a softer crumple zone for the unfortunate pedestrian and another by Volvo that actually deploys airbags out of the bonnet," reports The Verge. It says that the patent points out that neither development examined the potential injuries of a pedestrian who gets thrown out of a car.

"The idea that cars should be safe for people other than the ones in them is the next generation of automotive safety," Bryant Walker Smith, an autonomous car expert and Stanford law professor told the San Jose Mercury News. "Manufacturers have gotten remarkably good at protecting the occupants of the vehicle, but there's been much less attention to protecting the people outside. I applaud anybody for thinking, as they should, about people outside of the vehicle."

Some of the issues with the innovation have been pointed out by Smith: "If you had a pedestrian stuck on a car that then crashed into something else, that could be worse than if the pedestrian was thrown to the side or thrown over the car. It could also be better. It's very dependent on the chaos of the situation," said the professor. "The history of progress is replacing one set of problems with another set of problems and just really hoping that your new set of problems in aggregate is less than your original problem."