Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a system capable of closing doors for people passing by that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on November 3rd, 2022, published on May 9th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0151092.
The Ford Authority Take
Ford has been exploring ways to help prevent vehicle-on-pedestrian accidents for some time now, creating a new exit warning system that alerts vehicle occupants to the presence of passers-by, as well as filing patents for ideas like powered doors with an ID system and doors that may automatically open for drivers and passengers. Now, this newly filed patent keeps that trend going by introducing another similar idea, this time, for a system capable of closing doors or even preventing them from opening into people passing by that may be used in future Ford vehicles, too.
The concept of automatic opening and closing doors is nothing new, but in this case, Ford proposes taking into account the presence of other people when that process is underway – something that these systems typically don’t do, at least for now. To do this, the system would utilize sensors and cameras to detect the presence of people near a vehicle, and even predict which direction they might be headed in while the vehicle is still traveling at lower speeds, such as when the driver is searching for a parking spot.
From there, once occupants are ready to exit the vehicle, the system would use the information that it has gathered to determine whether or not there’s a risk of the door opening into someone. If that is the case, it would apply a “brake” to the door, and inform the occupant that this is the case. The concept here, of course, it to prevent a pretty common type of accident – particularly on busy city streets – and as such, it may one day make it to production.
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