Rivian patents roof rail lighting system

Rivian has filed two patent purposes for built-in lighting within the roof rails in its electrical pickup vehicles and SUVs.

The 2 purposes present barely completely different variations of a lighting system that may be a part of the roof cross bars sometimes used to safe cargo. Accompanying drawings present pickup vehicles and SUVs resembling the present Rivian R1T and R1S, respectively.

The primary software—revealed by the US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on Jan. 11, and filed on Sep. 12, 2022—have pretty standard trying cross bars with lights that may undertaking in entrance of, alongside, and behind the automobile. Cross bars would have a built-in electrical connection that enables the automobile’s battery pack to energy the lights.

These lights can be utilized for quite a lot of functions, in keeping with Rivian. Lights on the again of the rearmost cross bar may function additional brake lights, and lights on the ends of entrance or rear cross bars may very well be used as flip alerts. Lights may be keyed to a automobile’s unlock sequence, much like the best way headlights and taillights briefly illuminate on some autos after they’re unlocked.

Rivian roof rail lighting system patent picture (model two)

The second software, which has the identical publication and submitting dates as the primary, exhibits a unique configuration for the lights. Right here, they take the type of spotlights that particularly illuminate the realm on the backside of an incline. Lights would activate robotically when the automobile reaches a sure downhill angle, serving to to supply higher visibility forward.

It is unclear if we’ll see both type of Rivian’s roof rail lighting system on a manufacturing automobile, however it would not be shocking to see a characteristic like this on a future replace of Rivian’s R1 fashions. The automaker additionally plans to unveil the extra inexpensive R2 sequence this 12 months, though manufacturing is not scheduled to start out till 2026.