--- description: Google may be turning its vehicle into a real-life bumper car title: Google's Self-Driving Car May Come With Airbags on the Outside image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb15bde1cb897fa9/698785380b72e37d7f6de5b4/462675492.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Google's Self-Driving Car May Come With Airbags on the Outside  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Mar 25, 2015 6:17 PM CUT  U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (R) and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt (L) ride in a Google self-driving car at the Google headquarters on February 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (R) and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt (L) ride in a Google self-driving car at the Google headquarters on February 2, 2015 in Mountain View, California.Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Mar 25, 2015 6:17 PM CUT Google’s latest idea might be its craziest yet. The tech company has secured [a patent](http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=70&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&s1=google.ASNM.&p=2&OS=AN/google&RS=AN/google "undefined") for airbags that go on the _outside_ of the car to protect nearby pedestrians. Skeptics have questioned how safe Google’s driverless car can be, and the new patent, awarded to the company on Tuesday, suggests the Google is taking great strides to reassure consumers. According to the patent, airbags on the bumper of the vehicle would deploy when sensors detect an imminent crash. Though normal airbags would send pedestrians flying in the other direction, likely injuring or killing them, the patent says the Google car airbags would be made of “visco-elastic material.” Though Google doesn’t specify what exactly that material is, [Quartz describes it](http://qz.com/369345/googles-driverless-car-might-come-with-airbags-on-the-outside-to-protect-pedestrians/ "undefined") as something similar to memory foam that would cushion the blow to pedestrians so that they are not pushed to the street. Though the idea sounds bizarre, Google is not the first to come up with it. Volvo also has outside airbags that raise the hood and come out of the windshield. (See a demonstration of the Volvo technology below.) But don’t expect to see these ballooning cars on the streets anytime soon: Volvo has not yet used the technology, and just because Google has acquired the patent doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily use it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3758446/googles-self-driving-car-may-come-with-airbags-on-the-outside/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3758446/googles-self-driving-car-may-come-with-airbags-on-the-outside/"},"headline":"Google's Self-Driving Car May Come With Airbags on the Outside","datePublished":"2015-03-25T18:17:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:04:44.310Z","description":"Google could be be turning its vehicle into a real-life bumper car","url":"https://time.com/3758446/googles-self-driving-car-may-come-with-airbags-on-the-outside/","keywords":["Tech","Google","Companies","self-driving car"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb15bde1cb897fa9/698785380b72e37d7f6de5b4/462675492.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb15bde1cb897fa9/698785380b72e37d7f6de5b4/462675492.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Transportation Sec'y Foxx Discusses Future Transportation Trends With Google CEO","caption":"Transportation Sec'y Foxx Discusses Future Transportation Trends With Google CEO","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3758446/googles-self-driving-car-may-come-with-airbags-on-the-outside/","name":"Google's Self-Driving Car May Come With Airbags on the Outside"}}]}] ```