Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a vehicle data protection system that could be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on May 20th, 2022, published on November 23rd, 2023, and assigned serial number 0379188.
The Ford Authority Take
In recent years, data sharing has become a major point of contention – and controversy – as companies try to figure out ways to capitalize on this hugely profitable practice while also protecting the privacy of the people that it belongs to. Ford, specifically, was recently highlighted as one of the worst offenders when it comes to doing precisely that, which undoubtedly necessitates some changes – one of which may be the implementation of this new idea for a vehicle data protection system.
In addition to sharing data with companies like Ford, in recent years, vehicles have begun to also share data with things like other vehicles and even surrounding infrastructure, all in a way that’s designed to make the act of driving more convenient and safer. However, if this data is intercepted by hackers or others seeking to do bad things with it, it could cause all kinds of problems.
As such, the concept behind this patent is to apply a digital watermark to data that’s shared between vehicles and other sources, one that uses a secret key that would prevent it from being captured or decoded. This watermark would be stored in the cloud and used by vehicles sending and receiving data, and the system could also be capable of identifying if someone tries to misuse the vehicle data. As such, it seems highly likely that we’ll see something similar in future Ford vehicles.
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