Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an unmanned aerial vehicle integration system, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on January 9th, 2019, published on October 25th, 2022, and assigned serial number 11479368.
The Ford Authority Take
In addition to using drones to monitor inventory levels at the Valencia Engine plant in Spain and teaming up with Drone Delivery Canada on a pilot program that’s testing an automated drone as it tracks and lands on a moving ground vehicle within the flight arena, Ford has also filed a large number of drone-related patents in recent months, including one for a vehicular drone storage compartment system, a jump start system that would use drones, a collaborative system between an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an automobile, an unmanned aerial vehicle sanitation system, and a vehicle-mounted aerial drone container. Now, that trend continues with this new Ford patent, which presents an idea for an unmanned aerial vehicle integration system.
This new Ford patent explores several different ways an unmanned aerial device such as a drone could be integrated into a vehicle, such as using a landing dish, which in this case is built into the top of a bed cap on a pickup. When not in use, the dish could close up, concealing the drone and preventing it from being stolen or damaged, too.
All of the additional required equipment could be stored within the truck bed, mostly along the sides to prevent it from taking away any precious cargo space. The patent mentions a variety of uses for such a system, including package delivery, search and rescue, policing, and facilities monitoring, which the automaker clearly sees as a burgeoning business in the near future.
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