Apple’s Project Titan has long been covered in mystery- the only information available is through patents that drop around into the public every few months. The latest patent released, shows that Apple plans to introduce extendable, somewhat inflatable, bumper.
Bumpers are an important part of a vehicle, giving a level of security from minor and major impacts before having to rely on the rest of the car’s framework to take any knockbacks. For smaller knocks, bumpers can give vehicles a softer blow and eliminated the risk of damaging the car altogether.
The bumper can be manufactured as a simple metal beam that covers the width of the vehicle to more complex designs. A lightweight version uses a plastic bumper made of cellular plastic, one that deforms and crushes to absorb the impact, eliminating the risk to damage the car’s frame.
The design could be one possible reason behind inventing extendable bumpers for vehicles. Also, there is a practical reason too, like parking. It will be easier to park in a tight space if you could make your car smaller by retracting the bumper.
How will it work?
The bumper consists of an expandable portion, which extends out when inflated. The inflated panels are filled with pressurized gas and are meant to provide “soft initial contact in an impact.” The bumper can reposition using a spring mechanism. Meanwhile, a flexible joint keeps the bumper cover attached to the car.
All these are considered as speculations until Tim Cook decides to get up on stage with a refined presentation reel. Project Titan was initially planned to be an Apple-branded car, but recent reports suggest that Apple is focused more on developing a self-driving car. Apple may also be trying to build large driving rooms to test the self-driving cars. In the last year, Apple has hired two former Tesla employees, Andrew Kim, and Doug Field. Also, the secret Project Titan was made public.
All this can indicate that Apple still might be working on car tech, although all we could do is wait for the official announcement.
