Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a vehicle connectivity system for enhancing power tool operation that could be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on May 23rd, 2023, published on October 3rd, 2023, and assigned serial number 11776335.
The Ford Authority Take
Aside from filing a patent back in July for a tagged object tracking system that aims to help keep tabs on items such as tools inside of a vehicle, the Ford Pro tracking tool was revealed in Germany last year, giving fleet owners the ability to track pricey tools and prevent them from being lost or stolen from the job site. Now, this newly filed patent expands upon those ideas by introducing a new one, this time for a vehicle connectivity system for enhancing power tool operation that could be used in future Ford vehicles as well.
This system would store information related to different types of power tools – including access permission – and when one of those tools is in the proximity of the vehicle, the system would allow users to plug them in and use the vehicle’s power source. If the system is unable to identify either the tool of the permissions of the person using it, it would deactivate that power source to prevent them from being able to use it, too.
Overall, this system would function much like a key fob or Phone-As-A-Key feature, granting access to the vehicle’s power source only if it can authenticate that user and/or tool. This could become quite useful in the future, particularly as power outlets and generators are becoming more and more common in vehicles like vans and trucks, which commercial customers tend to use on the job site as portable sources of power for various types of tools.
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