Is Ford Trying To Patent a Way For Its Cars To Report Speeding To the Police?

Is Ford trying to patent a way for its cars to report speeding drivers to the police? An article in Motor Authority notes that this patent application from Ford was filed January 12th of 2023 - and just published 11 days ago by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: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. 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... Ford has also tried to patent a "night drive mode" that would limit vehicle speeds at night for everyone - including first responders. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.