Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a big, light up sign designed to be displayed on the roof of a car carrying paid passengers. It’s not exactly the sort of invention that’ll catch the world on fire – especially with all of those yellow, checkered cars driving around with a something similar on top. At the very least, however, Uber’s new patent could discourage people from accidentally hopping into the wrong stranger’s car.
Uber’s newly granted “Iluminatable Signage Device” patent details a thin, light up placard designed to be displayed on the “roof of a vehicle or suitably dimensioned mobile environment.” The car service first applied back in 2014 and finally got the grant just this week, making its logo far more prominent than the tiny signage displayed on the dash of many drivers.
Naturally, just because the company applied for the patent, doesn’t mean we’re going to see the streets awash with Uber taxi signs any time in the near future – or ever, for that matter. What is notable, however, is the name listed directly after familiar Uber names Travis Kalanick and Shalin Amin.
Yves Behar is, of course, a familiar name in these parts. The Swiss designer has created some of the more iconic hardware designs of the past couple of decades, including Jawbone’s Jambox and OLPC’s green and white XO laptop. And who can forget this robot crib?