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Ford Patents Retractable Table for Self-Driving Cars
Ford Motor Co. has received a U.S. patent for a retractable table, complete with its own airbag system, for use in autonomous vehicles.
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Ford Motor Co. has received a U.S. patent for a retractable table, complete with its own airbag system, for use in autonomous vehicles.
The concept would allow passengers in swiveling seats to sit around a small table in a reconfigurable interior. Ford says the table could be designed to be attached and retracted into the floor, the roof, door pillars or other structures.
Ford says the system could be used in a vehicle built on a unibody or body-on-frame platform. The airbag could be mounted to the top of the table or to its pedestal, and inflated either radially or transversely.
The design would allow amenities that “take into account the reduced operation monitoring provided by the autonomous vehicle," Ford engineers note in the patent. The central table could serve as a conference center for co-workers, dining counter, game desk or just a common area for passengers to interact while traveling.
Ford plans to introduce a vehicle capable of Level 4 autonomy by 2021.
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