Developers at the Japanese car company Toyota have devised a method by which a car should be able to determine whether it is ready for the car wash. An application for the property right for such an assessment system has now been submitted to the US Patent Office.

For the When deciding whether it is dirty, the car uses an external server to obtain information on the most recent journeys. According to the patent application, it is examined whether the car has been on a dirt road since the last wash and whether it has driven in snow or rain.

Time saving Toyota is thinking primarily of operators of car sharing with autonomous cars. They would not have to inspect the car themselves or look at images from the vehicle camera to assess whether the car should be washed. Instead, indicators would be used so that the car can automatically drive into the car wash.

According to the patent application, the car wash is also connected to the server and washes the car fully automatically. Based on the data, it is taken into account that the last car sharing customer has completed his journey and is therefore no longer sitting in the car.

(anw)