Most car manufacturers design the grid or “grill” of the electric vehicle to highlight their hallmarks and create brand differentiation. However, in the absence of a combustion engine, the central opening through which air enters to cool the piping and systems is completely sealed and only in end vehicles, adaptive shutters are usually used to channel air to other places, such as the braking system which needs cooling under loads. But is the front switching area forever destined to be empty Of content? Not sure.
As part of a technological experiment by Skoda in collaboration with the Institute of Technology in Prague, the Anike crossover was equipped with a strip of LEDs that can be turned on and off separately on the central grille area. They create the possibility of projecting images and symbols – somewhat similar to what a traffic light (pedestrians) does, although in a much more sophisticated way; When the vehicle is stopped and it is standing in front of a crosswalk, a green person is projected so that pedestrians can know that it is safe to cross, which means passers-by understand that you were able to notice them. When the vehicle starts moving, and pedestrians are near a crosswalk and the vehicle rolls forward – a red person is projected, warning of a dangerous crossing.
This method is not new. But it was never tried in a practical way, but was tested in the distant past in prototype vehicles that never matured into a serial vehicle, and in any case it was traditional vehicles and not electric vehicles. It can certainly be more civilized to have a “discussion” with vehicles and people around via digital signs instead of honking/waking or dazzling with the lights and getting into an unpleasant incident of road rage. Another advantage is also the ability to convey a message to drivers that it is possible, for example, to merge into one of the free lanes on the right or left and that the lights have already changed from red to green and it is possible to drive.
By the way, the illuminated grill is not the only patent in this field. Together with the technological institute, Skoda also presented a special crossing robot designed to improve safety near the roads. It is about 2 meters high and can make it clear to both pedestrians and drivers through special signals that they are allowed to cross the road safely. The ‘IPA2X’, as it is named, also communicates with the car, so it is able to warn the driver through the car’s central screen.
Both inventions are of course not yet ready for production, but according to Skoda they will be tested in practice. Skoda teams are conducting a series of tests in Italy and Slovenia in areas where there are many children or, on the contrary, many elderly people who make up a significant part of the victims in the area of pedestrian crossings. According to the project manager, the robot can be placed in different areas as early as 2025. Unfortunately, no word on Haneke’s grill assures us that the patent will go into serial production by that year, or at all.