GM’s Autonomous Cars Will Know If A Knife Fight Breaks Out Inside Them

“If you see something, say something” apparently applies to autonomous cars.

General Motors has filed to patent a novel feature aimed at keeping ride-sharing passengers safe.

But it has nothing to do with crashes.

The technology is designed to detect if a violent event is occurring within a vehicle that doesn’t have a human operator.

The application was published on December, 28 and uncovered by GM Authority.

General Motors was planning to introduce a driverless shared electric taxi called the Origin as soon as this year, but issues with Cruise’s autonomous driving tech have sidelined the project indefinitely. The patent uses the Origin’s design to explain how it works.

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A series of cameras monitors the cabin and the passengers within it, while using digital “privacy masks” to protect their identities. Various methods determine if one of the passengers is potentially in trouble, by tracking the movements of the people and the presence of weapons, including knives and guns. A chart explains the basic threat levels based on “skeletons overlapping” and whether or not a weapon is detected.

It can also correlate that information with location data that can show if the vehicle is traveling through a known high crime area.

The system could directly alert authorities to an incident, but Cruise’s vehicles are also remotely monitored and controlled by a central operations office manned by human staff who would be able to respond.

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Cruse had been operating autonomous Chevrolet Bolt-based vehicles without human backup drivers in several cities. Production of the Origin has been idled and a date for a full return to service not yet announced.