If you don’t pay for your Ford, it just drives away
Ford has come up with something interesting again. First, the American manufacturer came up with a special method to heat the interior of electric vehicles, and now the company has patented a system designed to counteract defaults.
New cars are networked, as the saying goes. They can receive over-the-air updates and sometimes even communicate with other cars and road infrastructure (called Vehicle-to-X).
Ford wants to crack down on the guilty
That gave Ford an idea. The brand has patented a system that can turn off a car if the owner fails to make their monthly payment. Ford has filed it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Switch off functions or take over the car
It’s going ok. If a buyer misses their monthly payments, their car will receive an over-the-air update. This allows Ford (or the bank) to communicate with the customer when they are in the car.
It is also possible to switch off certain functions remotely, such as the radio or the air conditioning. Ford can even park the entire car so the owner can’t use it or hide it from the bailiff.
Fully self-driving vehicles are yet to come, but Ford is making strides. The patent states how a car can automatically return to a bailiff or dealership if the owner doesn’t pay.
Of course, that doesn’t happen immediately. Someone is first warned several times, after which life is made hell for him by disabling options.