GM patents a camera system that launches a drag car off the Christmas Tree

General Motors has been granted a US patent for a launch control system that watches a drag strip's staging lights and launches the car automatically. US Patent 12,780,203, granted on November 3, covers a camera-based setup that predicts the green light and triggers the launch without the driver touching a pedal.

The patent, titled "Methods and Systems for Coordinating Launch Control for Vehicles for Racing," was first filed in January 2025 and published in July 2026 before issuing this week. It describes cameras trained on the Christmas Tree, software that reads the light sequence, and a control system that manages braking, torque and throttle through the start.

How the system is meant to work

According to Road & Track, the system uses onboard cameras to identify the Christmas Tree and track its light pattern in real time. Once the car is staged, it can prepare for launch before the green light appears, holding brake pressure and staging torque automatically after the driver releases the pedals. The car handles the holding and the timing rather than the driver's foot.

Road & Track described it as the possible dawn of push-button drag racing and said the patent could change how amateur racers approach a starting line, adding it would be eager to see how close the system could come to cutting a perfect light if GM ever builds it.

The automation follows a pattern at GM, which has also patented active aero control and an over-the-air camera update system, both aimed at letting software do work that used to sit entirely with hardware or driver input.

Pro Tree and Sportsman Tree timing

The patent's most specific detail is how it distinguishes two starting-light formats. A Pro Tree fires all three amber lights simultaneously, with the green appearing 0.4 seconds later, rewarding reaction time over anticipation. A Sportsman Tree fires its ambers in sequence, spaced half a second apart, before the green comes on. The system is designed to recognise which format it is looking at and adjust its predicted launch timing to match.

The two formats reward different skills, so a system that guessed wrong would either jump early or launch late. That distinction is the heart of the idea: a camera that can tell the formats apart is doing the job a driver's eyes and reflexes normally do, and doing it without the human error that decides so many amateur drag races.

What GM has not said

The patent does not specify how the camera tells the two formats apart in poor lighting or at unfamiliar tracks, details that would matter to anyone racing with it. Nothing in the filing names a vehicle, a model year or even a vague production timeline, and GM has not confirmed any plan to bring the system to market.

That leaves the obvious questions open. Which models would get it, whether it would arrive as a software feature on existing cars or only on new ones, and what it would cost are all unannounced. For now the patent is a statement of intent rather than a product, and drivers will only benefit if GM decides the system is worth putting on a showroom car.

Renault has partnered with Belgian defence specialist John Cockerill to develop the Forefront, an unmanned electric off-roader concept designed to operate in dangerous or hard-to-reach territory without a human driver on board. The two companies have not announced production plans or a timeline for putting the platform into service, so for now it remains a demonstrator of what their combined engineering can achieve.

What the Forefront concept is built to do

The Forefront is a remotely operated platform rather than a conventional vehicle, intended to carry out a range of missions in hazardous locations. A pair of electric motors drives all four wheels, and rear-wheel steering is fitted to make the machine more agile in confined spaces.

Renault says the concept is expected to cover around 400 kilometres (249 miles) on a single charge, with a range-extender combustion engine available to extend that distance. It can carry up to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds). Because it runs on electric power, its silent propulsion is seen as particularly useful in military operations where minimising noise matters.

The vehicle is remotely operated but can also perform tasks autonomously, since the platform supports autonomous driving technology. The project has drawn input from the French armed forces, and the Forefront will take part in several exercises and trials in the coming weeks so the development team can gather feedback from potential military users and refine the design.

Battlefield missions and civilian work

Beyond combat, the companies envisage the platform supporting logistics, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, anti-drone missions, fire support and evacuation efforts. Civilian applications include disaster response, civil protection, logistics and work in hazardous environments where sending human operators would be risky, such as fires, dangerous industrial sites or areas emergency crews cannot easily reach.

That breadth is the interesting part of the concept. Renault's manufacturing scale and Cockerill's defence know-how are being aimed at a platform that could serve armies and emergency services from the same base vehicle, rather than a single-purpose military truck.

Automakers are pushing deeper into defence

Renault is joining a growing list of carmakers finding defence work. Mercedes continues to build military versions of the G-Class, while Daimler Truck has set up Daimler Truck Defence as a dedicated global brand targeting €1 billion in defence revenue by 2028, with military versions of the Unimog, Zetros, Atego, Actros and Arocs in its portfolio.

Volkswagen has a long history of supplying military vehicles and remains involved through its commercial vehicle operations, with models such as the Amarok and Crafter used as platforms for specialised applications. The company has agreed in principle to sell its Osnabrück plant, where T-Roc Cabriolet production ends in 2027, to investor Aurelius Capital and the German state of Lower Saxony, with the site expected to become a security and defence manufacturing centre; an initial project with Israeli defence company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems would produce components for air-defence systems.

Ford is pitching the Ranger and F-Series for military applications and has teamed up with General Dynamics Land Systems UK and Ricardo to compete for a British Army contract, while the U.S. Army evaluates three Super Duty-based prototypes. Jaguar Land Rover has created a Defender Defence division whose Wolf Series II will compete for a UK Ministry of Defence contract, with NATO countries targeted as potential customers. General Motors' GM Defense developed the Infantry Squad Vehicle for the U.S. Army on a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 foundation.

Rising defence spending worldwide is the backdrop, and carmakers are discovering that their engineering expertise carries weight well beyond the showroom. For Renault, the Forefront is a reminder that its production know-how could help shape a new generation of unmanned ground vehicles, even if no electric military SUV is heading to a dealership yet.