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Google's sticky car patent glues pedestrians in place after an accident

The patent claims that sticking pedestrians to the car in the event of a crash is safer than them bouncing off into traffic.

Andrew Lanxon headshot
Andrew Lanxon headshot
Andrew Lanxon Editor At Large, Lead Photographer, Europe
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
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  • Shortlisted for British Photography Awards 2022, Commended in Landscape Photographer of the Year 2022
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Andrew Lanxon
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Watch this: Google's sticky car concept catches pedestrians

No stranger to wacky patents, Google's latest idea is to put a layer of what is essentially glue on the front of cars to help protect pedestrians who may be struck by autonomous vehicles.

The glue will act like flypaper, the Guardian reports -- if a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle, they will stick to the car and carried until it comes to a stop. This way "both the vehicle and pedestrian may come to a more gradual stop than if the pedestrian bounces off the vehicle," the patent explains.

While the patent specifically outlines self-driving cars as potential applications for the system, it does say it could be used on any type of vehicle. The company continues to test autonomous vehicles, recently taking to the roads of Phoenix, Arizona.

Google declined to comment on the patent.