US Patent 11904785 Crash-event driven collapsible tray tables for autonomous vehicles

A safety apparatus may include a tray table coupled to an interior surface of a vehicle via a release mechanism. The safety apparatus may also include a collision detection system communicatively coupled to the release mechanism. The collision detection system is configured to engage with the release mechanism if the tray table is in an open position, and to de-couple the tray table from the interior surface of the vehicle or to break away the tray table from a portion of a tray table structure if a collision is detected with respect to the vehicle.