The Casino Royale Gadget That Saved James Bond Now Has A Real-Life Patent
If you’ve seen Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, you will likely remember the scene where he rushes to his DBS, opens a hidden glovebox, and hooks himself up to a medical kit after being poisoned. He nearly dies because the unit loses power at the absolute wrong moment.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has filed a patent that suggests Q-Branch gadgets are getting closer to reality, and it is designed to fix exactly what went wrong for Bond.
We All Want James Bond Car Gadgets
Most of us have thought of having an ejector seat for an annoying passenger, like in the Goldfinger Aston Martin DB5, a Lotus Esprit that turns into a submarine, revolving number plates, or an invisibility cloak. It is the stuff of legend.
Even some of the more offensive gadgets (think tire-slashing hubcaps, smoke screens, and front-mounted machine guns) could come in handy on certain days, but Jaguar Land Rover is taking Bond Car inspiration from the more friendly side of things.
Jaguar Land Rover Has Filed A Patent For An In-Car Defibrillator
JLR has come up with a rather unusual way to make its electric and hybrid vehicles more useful in an emergency: turn them into mobile defibrillator stations.
A newly filed patent by JLR, as per its submission to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), describes an onboard AED system that draws power from the vehicle’s high-voltage battery, potentially putting life-saving equipment within reach when someone suffers a cardiac arrest.
The idea is to get a defibrillator to someone who needs it quickly enough in an emergency. AEDs are designed to be used by members of the public, but they’re only any good if one is close by.
JLR’s idea could put that equipment inside a vehicle that’s already on the road, rather than relying on someone to find one or wait for an ambulance. There’s no indication that JLR is going to be adding these defibrillators to its EVs and HEVs, but we like the Q-like thinking and how it could use what is already available in some of its vehicles for something more than trying to get the longest range or most power.
How The Defibrillator Could Be Integrated Into JLR Vehicles
Rather than simply chucking a conventional AED into the trunk, Jaguar Land Rover’s patent describes a system built around the vehicle’s electrical hardware. An onboard module draws power from the traction battery, storing it in a capacitor ready to deliver an emergency shock.
The clever bit is keeping the capacitor charged before the defib is actually needed. The patent suggests maintaining it at high capacity, potentially removing the wait needed for a conventional unit to charge up. It also means the portable control unit needs no separate high-voltage energy store or voltage-boosting hardware.
Leads connect it to the onboard module and adhesive chest electrodes, which feed patient information back to the vehicle’s controller. The system analyzes those readings and determines whether a shock should be delivered, while spoken prompts guide whoever is using it.
JLR has also considered where the equipment might be needed, with connection ports proposed for the cabin, trunk, under the hood, and even up near the front wheels.
Jaguar Land Rover’s New Defib Patent Sounds Like Something Q Would Approve Of
The real Bond connection explains why JLR’s patent could be useful. If you have seen Casino Royale and the scene where Bond tries to use the unit in his Aston Martin DBS V12 , you’ll know what we mean. You’ll also know that he could’ve done with a defibrillator that had a higher ready charge and was quicker to use.
The timing is interesting, too, with Jaguar preparing to launch the all-electric Type 01. Jag’s new four-door GT gets an 850-volt electrical architecture and a 118kWh battery good for over 1,000 horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet of torque, giving it plenty of high-voltage hardware to play with. It’s not connected to the defibrillator patent, but it does show the direction JLR’s engineering could be heading.
While Q has already given Bond plenty of toys to get out of trouble, JLR’s idea is rather a more grounded take on the same sort of thing. No hidden weapons or ejector seats this time, just a clever use of EV tech that could actually be useful.
Sources: Jaguar Land Rover and WIPO.
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