Ford Patent Filed For Privacy Preserving Charging Reports

March 21, 2024 1:23 pm

Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for privacy preserving charging reports that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.

The patent was filed on September 16^th, 2022, published on March 21^st, 2024, and assigned serial number 0095790.

The Ford Authority Take

Ford – along with most major companies that dabble in data in some way – has come under fire as of late regarding how it uses that data, having been named among the worst in terms of its privacy practices, in fact. Even after winning at least one legal challenge pertaining to this topic, CEO Jim Farley has admitted that privacy remains a major point of tension between the automaker and its customers, even though it certainly isn’t the worst offender by a long shot. Regardless, a recent Ford patent filing for a vehicle data protection system signals that the automaker is looking to innovate in this space, and that continues with this new Ford patent outlining an idea for privacy preserving charging reports, too.

As Ford points out in this patent, the rise of road usage charging (RUC) – or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) – fees has become a big way for local governments to raise money for road construction and improvements, along with tolls. However, there’s one problem in particular with these systems, and that’s the fact that they must track the miles a user drives – and where they’re driving – which could potentially raise privacy concerns over how that data is used.

Thus, the concept here is to create a system that can still collect that data without indicating what account, vehicle, or user it belongs to, protecting their identity at the same time. This system would be capable of doing precisely that – summarizing reports and submitting them to providers, after which they can collect those fees without acquiring too much sensitive data in the process.

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 non-stop Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.