Inside Ford’s Vehicle Patents: Sliding Desks, Folding Steering Wheels and Drones

What is it?

The patent describes front seats that can rotate to a rear-facing orientation or fold and move toward space beneath the instrument panel during autonomous operation. The center console can also move so occupants in the front and second rows can use it like a shared table.

If the person who would normally drive no longer has to face forward continuously, a one-direction seating layout is no longer mandatory. Facing each other changes how the occupants can talk during the trip.

What is it?

In autonomous mode, the entertainment system can present media on a larger screen using a projector. When the vehicle needs to return to non-autonomous operation, the system can move the media presentation to another display and clear the driving view.

The system changes which display is active according to whether the occupant is driving or spending the trip doing something else.

What is it?

The desk is built from linked panels whose support arms follow tracks in the dashboard. In storage the panels conform to the trim; when deployed they move rearward and form a substantially flat work surface in front of the occupant.

Ford also offers an Interior Work Surface on the F-150. No direct patent-to-product lineage between that feature and this publication has been verified.

What is it?

The patent places a folding sawhorse inside a recess in the pickup tailgate. Its legs can be stowed inside the structure and opened when the support is removed for use.

Part of the vehicle body becomes the storage location for a work tool, extending the idea of a mobile workspace beyond the cabin.

What is it?

After an alert signal, the vehicle can open the storage area and release a drone secured inside. The drone can fly above or follow the host vehicle, shine a light, sound a siren, or operate in monitoring and security modes.

Rather than treating the drone as separate equipment, the patent makes it an extension of the vehicle's sensing and warning system: an eye and signal source that can leave the body of the car.

What is it?

After a delivery robot reaches a property, it can receive images from the building's security system and use landmarks in those images to navigate to the designated package drop-off spot. Authentication can also be used to open a gate or door.

The delivery vehicle, the small robot, and the destination building cooperate to solve the last stretch of the route.

What is it?

Selecting a dedicated pet mode can cause the vehicle computer to coordinate multiple systems: windows or the sunroof may open, a liftgate may move, rear seats may fold, and climate settings may change. The disclosure also describes sensing whether a pet is inside.

Instead of assigning one button to one component, the patent bundles a group of physical and environmental changes into a mode for a different kind of occupant.

What is it?

The system uses a projector associated with a head-up display to project light beyond the vehicle. It can detect a wall, ceiling, or another vehicle surface and adjust projection angle, brightness, or other parameters so the image remains visible.

A device that normally communicates only with the driver becomes a way for the vehicle to signal people or machines outside. The disclosure even contemplates multiple vehicles coordinating their projected patterns.

What is it?

The patent describes a multi-step process in which unacknowledged delinquency notices can be followed by restrictions on selected vehicle functions and eventually a lockout condition. One illustrated scenario shows the vehicle parked inside a closed garage in an attempt to impede repossession.

For an autonomous vehicle, the disclosure also describes cooperation between the repossession computer and vehicle computer so the vehicle can travel to a repossession agency, lender, impound location, or other designated site without being driven there by its owner.

What is it?

The steering-wheel rim is supported so it can pivot relative to the hub between a steering position and one or more non-steering positions. Locking devices hold the selected position, with embodiments using a cable and motor to release the mechanism.

During automated travel or while stopped, a large circular control directly in front of the occupant can become unused space. The patent treats even the iconic steering wheel as something whose shape can change with the mode.