Apple registers patent for a robotic car charger

The majority of electric cars can be plugged in when you get home, and by the time you want to leave again a few hours later, they are fully charged.

For most people, this isn’t a major inconvenience, yet Apple clearly thinks that it would be better if a robot did the task for you.

The company was granted a patent with the title ‘Charging system’ yesterday, which would, to a large extent automate the whole process of charging an electric car.

The patent is, in essence, a device that stands on the floor but can move around when activated.

This robotic charger could, for example, move right next to your electric car and start charging it.

The patent describes how the device could charge a vehicle using coil-based induction or a wired power connection.

It would have its own power source in the form of a motor and wheels, and sensors such as light detectors and cameras would prevent it from bumping into other objects.

The same sensors will also help it to find the shortest route to your car, and prevent it from wrapping the cable around itself.

Since Apple isn’t in the business of building robots for other people’s electric cars, this is almost certainly a system intended for its own ‘Apple Car’.

Rumours of an autonomous car with the codename ‘Project Titan’ have been doing the rounds for ages, and Apple’s top brass have since confirmed that the company is working on some kind of vehicle.

The project has had its setbacks, including internal restructurings, and at some stage, it was reported that Apple had abandoned the idea in favour of working on the underlying autonomous systems that make these cars work.

However, various patents and reports have recently revived the belief that Apple is working on a real physical Apple Car.

And when it arrives, it will most likely have a robotic charger.