- Porsche has filed a patent for racing stripes that appear when a car is set to Sport mode.
- It sounds fun, but automakers often patent ideas they don’t use.
You’ve understood it since you were little: Stripes make a car go faster. Finally, we have solid engineering proof.
Porsche has filed a patent application in its home market, Germany, for racing stripes that appear when the driver selects sport mode.
Well, in the legalistic language of patent filings translated from German, the company has applied to patent a “control device” to “control an outer coating of the vehicle via the output on the basis of a user-specific profile and on the basis of driving operation information.”
But that means stripes you switch on and off. There’s a diagram.
If it ever becomes real, it won’t be the only color-changing paint available. BMW has shown off so-called “e-ink” paint on the auto show circuit, which can change color using magnetically charged pigment.
But it may never come to fruition. Automakers patent fanciful ideas they never use all the time. Tesla holds a patent for a laser that cleans bugs off a windshield. Ford holds a patent for a car that drives itself back to the dealership if you miss a payment.
