Ford patents self-driving car that can repo itself

The sinister potential of a connected car tech has been highlighted by a new patent granted to automaker Ford by the United States Patents Office.

The patent refers to rather innocuous sounding “systems and methods to repossess a vehicle.” But delve into the details and it spells out vividly how an autonomous, connected car could cause serious problems for an owner who has defaulted on payments, up to the point where it could even drive itself back to the showroom – or the scrapyard.

The patent application essentially describes a range of alarming scenarios that the vehicle could create via a series of increasingly severe punishments for an owner who falls behind on payments.

Initially, for example, a message from a computer at a bank or lender could be sent to a computer in the vehicle, or the owner’s smartphone, informing them that their payments are overdue. If this is not acknowledged, the problems would begin.

The system detailed by Ford shows how the computer system would have the capability to disable the air-con and radio in the car as a first stage of punishment.

If this does not achieve the desired results, the audio could then be activated to “emit an incessant and unpleasant sound” every time the owner is in the vehicle. There is even a suggestion that this could not be turned off until the lender is contacted by the owner.

To read the complete article, visit IoT World Today.