Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an active parking assistant that could be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on October 28th, 2021, published on January 23rd, 2024, and assigned serial number 11878680.
The Ford Authority Take
Many modern vehicles are able to park themselves, or at least assist in that process, and that includes more than a few models currently produced by Ford. Regardless, the automaker continues to explore ways to make the parking process more automated in the future, filing patents for ideas such as key fobs with remote park-assist functionality, a remote park assist feature with augmented reality, an angulated parking system for urban areas, an augmented reality system for parking, and an improved parking position system, to name just a few. Now, this newly filed patent continues that trend by presenting us with an idea for an active parking assistant that could be used in future Ford vehicles, too.
The concept here is a familiar one – design a system that’s capable of taking over the parking process completely, which includes steering and throttle control, as well as the transmission. Users would activate the system by using a button, voice command, or touchscreen prompt, and additionally, the system would also ask if users want to engage it under certain circumstances – such as when a vehicle is traveling at a certain speed or is near a parking space.
While this is a very similar system to ones currently in use in some vehicles, the point here is to improve upon the automatic parking process and make it more accurate in terms of how well a vehicle fits in a space, eliminating other frustrations at the same time. Currently, many parking systems don’t do the greatest job in that regard, but Ford is clearly aiming for a future in which we may not have to park our own vehicles ever again.
We’ll have more on this and all Ford patents soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford patent news, Ford business news, and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
My 2019 Expedition had this feature. I would say it worked ok but when I traded in for my 2023 F-150 it was deleted for credit. Supposedly because the supply chain didn’t have the chips for it. I think it was deleted because Ford didn’t want to admit it was just ok and people had problems with it. Which is obvious to me as proved by this patent because why would Ford need a patent for something it already had unless what they had wasn’t that good?
I believe the current system Ford uses is licensed from another company. This could be their patent for a full in-house system so no licensing fees needed.
I would be hard pressed to fine streets that use parallel parking around here.
Regarding parking assist. Whatever happened to taking a little pride in how you drive? It used to be if you couldn’t parallel park you didn’t get your license. But I guess it doesn’t matter? The governor of Michigan wants to let illegal aliens to get drivers licenses. So they can vote. And she wants 16-year-olds to vote. That with Signing bills with unconstitutional laws. What a mess!
It is more of a feature for those who live in or near a city.