Car patents are usually focused on unique design elements or aerodynamic improvements. But BYD has just published a new patent that addresses an often overlooked safety concern. The recent patent is for underbody detection of living organisms, using computer vision to capture an image of the vehicle’s underside, which is then stored as a reference image once the vehicle is turned off. It was published by China’s National Intellectual Property Administration on June 12th. BYD’s recent patent could save lives The underbody detection patent has some boring jargon to read through, basically learning to identify static components, like suspension parts and the battery enclosure, so it can see what is different when it stands. Namely, living organisms. It will be able to distinguish between harmless environmental changes, like shadows and debris, and movement from a living thing. While the initial reaction to such a patent is to acknowledge BYD’s overall improvements to its monitoring system, with BYD attempting to create a broader, more intelligent sensing ecosystem across the entire vehicle, I think this specific sensor is pretty standout. Remember that whole debacle with Kit Kat? I’ve discussed it before, but it was a national story about a Waymo running over a cat in San Francisco. It was used as an argument against autonomous vehicles, with critics claiming they posed a danger to society. Some even claimed the Waymo had driven over the sidewalk to intentionally hit the cat. While it’s sad to see a cat die, Waymo wasn’t really at fault. At least in my opinion. Footage showed that the cat had lied down in front of the Waymo’s front tire out of range of the sensors. You could say that Waymo doesn’t have enough sensors, but a human wouldn’t have seen this cat either. In fact, humans kill 5.4