If you fall behind on your payments for your excessively pricey automobile in the future, it may not be the repo guys who come knocking. Instead, your vehicle may drive itself back to the dealership.
And yes, believe it or not, that’s the gist of a real patent submitted by Ford. The invention, titled “Systems and Techniques to Repossess a Vehicle,” was published this week by the US Patent Office after being submitted in 2021.
While not yet granted, the mechanism described in the patent is as bizarre as it sounds. Ford envisions it being capable of completely disabling certain components in your car, with varying levels of forewarning punishment.
First, it may disable your power windows and prevent you from using some features of your infotainment system. If that still doesn’t grab your attention, you’ll next lose your air conditioning and the ability to automatically lock and open doors.
But that’s only the beginning of how annoying it can be. The company may make your car emit a “incessant and unpleasant sound” every time you enter it, ultimately locking you out completely.
Not only that, but if your car has autonomous driving capabilities, Ford’s system may drive it away without even alerting you, avoiding confrontation with the repo guys. It might even bypass the repo men totally and drive directly to the repo agency.
Does Ford actually intend on following through with the patent? Who knows. In fact, Ford itself probably doesn’t even know — it’s no longer even pursuing self-driving technology at the moment. They keep filing for patent to locking down potentially monetizable concepts.
Reference- The Drive, The Verge, Wired, Inside EVs, Ford website, US Patent Office website