A brand new patent for a wi-fi charging pad submitted by Tesla has been revealed forward of the corporate’s Robotaxi unveiling occasion.
Tesla is about to unveil its design for a Robotaxi, a completely autonomous car that can function as a ride-hailing service, on October 10 at Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, California.
Though it was initially scheduled for August 8, Tesla pushed the occasion again, and Elon Musk revealed the corporate would make one design change to the car. The extra time would additionally enable Tesla “to point out off a number of different issues,” Musk stated.
We’d have an concept of what a type of issues is perhaps, as a brand new patent, labeled “PARAMETER ESTIMATION FOR WIRELESS CHARGING,” was filed by Tesla:
Parameter Estimation for Wi-fi Charging
Tesla’s WO2024182372 patent introduces an modern system for estimating and adapting to variations in wi-fi charging techniques, enhancing effectivity and security. 🧵
[FIG. 1A: Illustrates an example wireless charging environment with… pic.twitter.com/cwy5tRJ4mp
— SETI Park (@seti_park) September 7, 2024
It appears Tesla plans to utilize a wireless charging pad for the Robotaxi suite, which makes sense. If the vehicle is going to lack any sort of true human operation and be autonomous past the point of driving, it will need to be self-sufficient with charging as well.
Pulling into a garage or other structure with the wireless charging pad on the floor, as long as the vehicle also has an induction coil, would eliminate the need for a human to come plug the vehicle in. Of course, Tesla fooled around with the idea of a robotic “snake charger” that would automatically plug into the vehicle:
Tesla “snake charger” wasn’t just a creepy one-off, suggests Elon Musk
However, Tesla started teasing a wireless charging pad in early 2023 at its Investor Day. This pretty much eliminated any need for the “snake charger” and ultimately catalyzed a lot of rumors for the automaker and its development of a wireless charging pad.
The automaker then made a company acquisition, as it so commonly does when it gets into a new venture to streamline its product line. Tesla completed its purchase of Wiferion in July 2023. It then sold the company but kept many of its engineers.
Tesla sells wireless charging unit firm Wiferion, but keeps its engineers: report
What this patent essentially means is that Tesla is preparing to automate the entire Robotaxi operation. It could end up using this technology on other vehicles, but that remains to be seen.
We predicted that Tesla would unveil some kind of wireless charging technology at the Robotaxi unveiling event in an article yesterday.
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