Patent for safety-minded gyroscopic seats filed by GM

General Motors has filed a patent application for a new restraint system using gyroscopic seats to improve passenger safety, with potential applications for autonomous vehicles (AVs).

The new GM patent application has been assigned patent number US 2024/0001825 A1 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and was published on January 4, 2024, says GM Authority.

It notes the patent application was originally filed on July 1, 2022, and lists Tyler P. Morris (Michigan), Ryan Aaron Gellner (Michigan), and Nick Colonna (Canada) as inventors.

The patent describes a vehicle restraint system that includes a gyroscopic seat with an inner shell and outer shell.

The seats incorporate a slip device mounted between the inner shell and the outer shell, with the outer shell mounted to the vehicle, supporting the inner shell, and the inner shell supporting the passenger.

Swivelling passenger seats especially suited to AVs to allow socialisation raise the issue of a seat restraint system capable of protecting passengers from an impact when the seat is rotated.

GM Authority says the patent application adds: “Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a seat assembly which is able to absorb impact energy from any angle.”