Ford Motor Co. was recently granted a controversial patent that would allow the vehicle to inform police if the driver was speeding - August 11, 2024
- Core Insights Advisory Services
- Aug 10, 2024
- 3 min read
August 11, 2024
Motor Authority wrote:
‘In the application, Ford discusses using cars to monitor each other’s speeds. If one car detects that a nearby vehicle is being driven above the posted limit, it could use onboard cameras to photograph that vehicle. A report containing both speed data and images of the targeted vehicle could then be sent directly to a police car or roadside monitoring units via an Internet connection, according to Ford.’
The outlet adds: ‘Using vehicles for speed surveillance would make cops’ jobs easier, as they wouldn’t have to quickly identify speeding violations and take off in pursuit, Ford notes in the application. It also means some of that work could be delegated to self-driving cars, which could be equipped to detect speeding violations, the automaker adds.’
Automobile outlet Driving however noted that the patent vaguely says the transmission of these records and driving data to police ‘seems to relegate only to instances where the snitching car is also “a law enforcement vehicle,” though elsewhere in the patent (please turn to page 9) it broadens that definition to cover, in some cases, “any of various types of vehicles operated by various types of agencies,” including those driven by an “emergency services responder” or “private security officer.”’
While this raises the question of what a non-government-owned or -operated vehicle would do with the sort of “record” captured by this system, at the very least it does sound like the engineer at Ford behind this patent was perhaps thinking of it more as a means to simplify cop-to-cop communication, and less so as a way to turn every new Ford on the street into a tattletale.
Matthew Guy noted in an update
Nevertheless, Driver called this “dystopian.” Guy adds, ‘We think it is at this point any reasonable outlet is obliged to quote Jeff Goldbum’s character Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”’
The Drive also expressed concern, saying, ‘You don’t need us to sound alarms over the implicit slipperiness of this slope, potentially mobilizing non-police cars to snitch on the rest of the public.’
In a statement to Motor Authority, a Ford spokesman said:
The patent explicitly states this idea is specific for application in law enforcement vehicles, such as the Ford Police Interceptor, and it’s a system that would automate a capability that law enforcement already have in use today, except this would utilize the built-in system and sensors in the vehicle. This patent does not state that driving data from customers’ vehicles would be shared with law enforcement, which is what some media have incorrectly reported. And note, patent applications are intended to protect new ideas but aren’t necessarily an indication of new business or product plans.
But Motor Authority says their ‘reading of the patent leaves unanswered questions about the limit and scope of its language—which seems to leave law enforcement use as one of many possible use cases.’
Over the last several years, Ford Motor Co. has filed some other obtuse patents that have drawn criticism.
In 2023, Ford was granted a patent that allows their vehicles to autonomously drive themselves back to the lot if the owner failed to make the necessary payments. In May of this year, Ford filed a patent for a facial recognition entry system. The vehicle giant has also looking into patenting a “night drive mode” that would limit vehicle speeds at night for all drivers – including first responders and emergency crew.