Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an unauthorized device drain detection system that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on April 22nd, 2021, published on May 7th, 2024, and assigned serial number 11979742.
The Ford Authority Take
In recent months, Ford has filed a handful of patents that aim to make vehicles more capable of detecting when there’s an issue. Those fillings include ideas for a special battery saver mode and a device detection and reporting system, which would make today’s smart vehicles, well, just a bit smarter. Now, this newly filed patent keeps that trend going by introducing us to another, similar sort of concept – this time, for an unauthorized device drain detection system that may be used in future Ford vehicles, too.
The idea here is to discover a way to detect and prevent resource drain from an unauthorized wireless device, or more specifically, to keep thieves from nabbing one’s signal from a key fob that unlocks a vehicle’s doors, or via a smartphone with Phone-As-A-Key functionality. This has become big problem in recent years, and certainly warrants solutions that help prevent that type of vehicle theft or unauthorized access.
This particular system would be configured to detect such attempts, as it would utilize a pre-authorization signal with a challenge value and a “hash result.” The concept is rather complex, but still, quite simple – the system would theoretically allow only the user to gain access to the vehicle wirelessly, shutting out any attempts to steal a signal from a key fob or phone, something that’s sorely needed amid rising vehicle thefts.
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 ongoing Ford news coverage.
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