Tesla has utilized for a patent on an automatic sanitization system for its upcoming robotaxi self-driving electrical automobiles.
Self-driving will not be solved but, however the brand new know-how additionally comes with different issues.
Tesla plans to launch an automatic ride-hailing service as soon as it solves self-driving, which is any day now should you consider Elon Musk.
Nevertheless, as soon as you are taking the motive force out of ride-hailing, you create different issues. Whereas driving is definitely the primary a part of their jobs, additionally they keep their autos and maintain them clear.
Tesla has now utilized for a brand new patent that will automate not less than a part of the sanitization of its self-driving autos.
The patent is known as ‘Controlling environmental circumstances in enclosed areas’ (hat tip to @seti_park for recognizing the patent first).
Tesla describes the issue it’s fixing within the patent’s background:
Shared areas current benefits in value, effectivity, and environmental sustainability. For instance, an car offering transportation all through the day for a number of individuals supplies decrease transportation prices and environmental footprint than an car utilized by just one individual for private commute. Nevertheless, shared areas have a drawback of facilitating oblique transmission of communicable illnesses by way of contaminated air or surfaces. Present means for sanitizing shared areas, for instance manually wiping contact surfaces utilizing disinfectant wipes, will be time-consuming, laborious and result in unsatisfactory sanitation circumstances. Moreover, such manually carried out actions might not be simply verifiable.
Within the patent, Tesla explains that it makes use of quite a lot of sensors, which might embrace a picture sensor, an acoustic sensor, a thermal sensor, a stress sensor, a capacitive sensor, a radio frequency sensor, or a gasoline sensor, to maintain observe of the surroundings contained in the automobile.
As for the precise sanitization routine, Tesla mentions the potential use of UV lights and a heating system to sanitize.
The patent means that Tesla might use issues contained in the automobile to sanitize mechanically, but it surely might additionally autonomously drive into an space geared up to sanitize the automobile with robots. The automobile would go into some type of ‘sanitization mode’ that might embrace transferring the seats if essential or opening the home windows to let a light-weight supply in.
Electrek’s Take
That is cool, however clearly, it solely is smart in case you have solved self-driving, which Tesla has but to do.
That appears to be the arduous half. I’m not saying you shouldn’t take into consideration all the opposite issues to resolve after getting a fleet of self-driving robotaxi. You need to. However fixing self-driving appears to be the primary hurdle.
I’ve been impressed with Tesla’s FSD v12, however I’ve been unimpressed by the progress made since v12. The trail to a real driverless system remains to be unclear to me.
