It is normal for cars to have air bags on the inside to protect the driver and passengers during any accident. However, Google has come up with an exceptional idea and, as a result; the driverless cars of the tech titan may come with air bags on the exterior with a view to protect the pedestrians.

According to IB Times, on Tuesday, Google was granted a patent, which provides details regarding the Mountain View, California-headquartered company's system for external air bags and bumpers that are meant "for protecting a pedestrian during impact with a vehicle." The patent filing states that the purported air bags will be positioned on the external side of the cars, and they will be set up when the car senses the likelihood of a collision with any object.

Explaining the working of the system, the patent states that it is "A system... having a bumper adapted for attachment to an end of the vehicle, wherein the bumper is comprised of a plurality of air sacs, wherein the bumper has a horizontal thickness extends from the end of the vehicle, wherein at least some of the plurality of air sacs stretch and then burst during impact between the bumper and a pedestrian causing deceleration along the horizontal width of the bumper during the impact, wherein the bumper undergoes plastic deformation during impact with the pedestrian as the at least some of the air sacs burst during impact, and wherein the bursting of some of the plurality of air sacs reduces spring back of the bumper on the pedestrian."

According to the report, the patent further notes that conventional air bags and car bumpers will not be useful when fitted outside the car as they may lead to pedestrians being bounced off and injuring themselves. However, the patent granted to Google offers a solution to this problem - the bumper of the driverless car is made out of "visco-elastic material."

While Google is yet to specify what that material it would be using, Quartz reports that the "visco-elastic material" could be "a consistency somewhere between that of an earplug and memory foam."

In fact, Google is not the only company currently working on external air bags, as the Swedish automaker Volvo is also experimenting with the idea of airbags-on-the-outside.