Movable Separating Panels for Autonomous Vehicle Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
In autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, the passenger compartment lacks aesthetically pleasing and functional separating partitions that preserve privacy while allowing easy access and improving ergonomics.
Innovation Solution
A passenger compartment design featuring movable separating panels that can extend between seating areas to block views and separate passengers when needed, while retracting to facilitate access and communication, with features like translucent panels and center console housings for panel storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If separating partitions are installed to preserve privacy between passengers, then privacy is improved, but access to seats becomes difficult and the passenger compartment is cluttered
Solution Approach 1:
The separating panels are made movable between a retracted position (stored in housings in the center console) and a deployed position (extending into the passenger compartment to separate seating areas). This dynamic capability allows the system to adapt between providing privacy and allowing easy access, resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The separating panels are divided into multiple segments that can move independently between retracted and deployed positions. This segmentation allows the privacy barrier to be created only where and when needed, rather than permanently blocking access, thus resolving the contradiction between privacy and ease of access.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If separating partitions are installed to preserve privacy, then privacy is improved, but the passenger compartment becomes cluttered and aesthetics are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The separating panels are extracted from the main passenger compartment space when not in use, storing them in housings within the center console. This extraction keeps the passenger compartment uncluttered and aesthetically pleasing while maintaining the capability to provide privacy when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The separating panels transition between hidden (retracted in center console housings) and visible (deployed into passenger compartment) states. This dynamic behavior ensures that the aesthetic quality of the passenger compartment is maintained when privacy is not required, while still providing privacy separation when needed.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If separating partitions are deployed to block views between seating areas, then privacy is improved, but communication between passengers is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The separating panels can be dynamically deployed or retracted based on communication needs. When passengers need to communicate, the panels are retracted into the center console housings, restoring visual contact and facilitating communication. When privacy is needed, the panels are deployed to block views. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction between privacy and communication.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle passenger compartment having at least three seating areas and at least one clear area, located between two adjacent seating areas, wherein the passenger compartment includes at least one separating panel movable between a first position in which the separating panel extends outside the clear area and a second position in which the separating panel extends in the clear area, so as to separate the two associated adjacent seating areas.