With the pace only picking up in the electric vehicle market, speculation as to what Apple is planning for its own EV (otherwise known as Project Titan) is growing. Amid years of delays, one method sleuths have been hunting for clues as to what might be in the pipeline are the patents that Apple are filing for its car, with recent applications revealing the possibility of adjustably tinted windows and both semi and fully-autonomous driving modes.
According to a report by Patently Apple, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially released patent filings for Project Titan this week that outline two window technologies that can not only adjust the level of tint in the glass but also the reflectivity and haze. Last week, another patent application outlined an automatically adjustable headlight system that can adapt to different driving conditions in semi and fully-autonomous driving modes, with the possibility of headlight colour and pattern being adjustable. The days of low and high-beam headlights might soon be in the past.
Specifically for the technology that allows for adjustable window opacity, Apple filed two patents that are described as a “Guest-Host Liquid Crystal Device” and an “Adjustable Tint Layer.” The first of these claims “the guest-host liquid crystal device has adjustable light absorption” capacity and an adjustable “visible-light reflective layer,” while the second allows for reflectivity to be “adjustable by at least 30%.” Unfortunately, we can only wait to see how Apple applies this technology – if they do at all.
