Ford Patent Filed For Key Fobs With Remote Park-Assist Functionality

Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for key fobs with remote park-assist functionality, Ford Authority has learned.

The patent was filed on April 1^st, 2019, published on March 15^th, 2022, and assigned serial number 11275368.

The Ford Authority Take

Ford already offers Active Park Assist on a number of its models which essentially parallel parks a vehicle for the driver. The system is able to find a suitable parking spot and then steers the vehicle while the driver shifts, accelerates, and brakes as needed, while Enhanced Active Park Assist also helps drivers get out of tight parallel parking spots and reverse perpendicular parking. Finally, Active Park Assist 2.0 does all the work for the driver, who simply has to shift into neutral and hold down the park assist button.

This new Ford patent takes that concept a step further, however, by allowing owners to use Active Park Assist via the key fob, which is an interesting concept. Currently, some automakers including Hyundai and Kia offer key fob functionality that allows owners to move vehicles forward and backward, but that’s it.

This new patent would expand upon that idea by moving the entire automated parking process to the key fob, which could come in handy in a number of different situations, particularly in tight parking spots where it would be easier to see while standing outside of the vehicle rather than while sitting inside of it. And given the fact that such technology already exists in a lesser form, this patent seems like a natural next step for FoMoCo to take with its future models.

We’ll have more on this and all Ford patents soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford trademark news, Ford business news, and continuous Ford news coverage.