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Toyota has filed a patent for a strange telescoping device design to improve a vehicle’s aerodynamic efficiency.

The patent was first filed by TEMA, Toyota North America’s R&D division, back in 2016, but was only made public this week. It describes a tapered, deployable air drag reduction mechanism that would decrease the aerodynamic impediment of the vehicle it is attached to. It’s sort of like those fuel-saving aero pieces you see affixed to some transport trucks, but it’s for a car and looks entirely more awkward.

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It seems as though the aero device has some sort of actuation mechanism to deploy it, but it’s not clear to us exactly how that works. All we know is the device makes the Toyota Camry being used in the example look like it doubles as a tunnel boring machine. For that reason, and other obvious problems related to the device’s real-world practicality (or lack thereof), we don’t think this idea will ever see the light of day.

Thanks for laugh anyway, Toyota.

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