Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for an automated following mode that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on February 23rd, 2022, published on May 21st, 2024, and assigned serial number 11988525.
The Ford Authority Take
In recent months, Ford has filed patents for ideas including key fobs with remote park-assist functionality and a remote park assist feature with augmented reality, signaling that the automaker is at least exploring such a concept. This is notable because a couple of its rivals – Hyundai and Tesla – already offer some sort of remote/autonomous parking capability, whether that be controlled via the key fob in the case of Hyundai’s Remote Smart Parking Assist feature, or automatically, as is the case with Tesla’s Autopark function. Now, this newly filed patent introduces something similar yet also new – an idea for an automated following mode that may be used in future Ford vehicles.
Officially called “Follow Mode,” this feature would enable users to have their vehicle follow them as they move around, which is certainly an interesting concept. The idea here is that there are certain times when such a feature may be useful, such as when a person working on something like a fence may want to keep their tools and supplies nearby as they move down that line, or if someone is out for a walk and wants to have the option of driving home. Alternatively, Ford notes that Follow Mode could also be used by an autonomous vehicle to read power meters, too.
This type of idea isn’t entirely new, but it could certainly prove useful at some point in the future. After all, Hyundai’s Remote Smart Parking Feature has already gained popularity as it makes it far easier to park a vehicle in tight spots without having to worry about getting in an out of the vehicle – and if Ford has its way, we may one day be able to keep our vehicles close by for other purposes, too.
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Comments
Ford has a Assisted Parking feature for decades, and was testing a fully Self Parking feature which includes shifting, accelerating, and stopping. I saw a YouTube video of a Ford Focus prototype doing a self parallel parking. I wonder why it has not been offered yet, especially for electric and hybrid vehicles that need not a gas engine to be on.
It’s a stupid feature and one that will probably get your vehicle vandalized when you park between other vehicles. If a innocent person can’t get in his door because your “smart car” has self parked and left no space, sooner or later someone will beat the hell out of the offending vehicle for revenge. Close the border, Biden is destroying this country.
When can I order a Ford Ranger Raptor 2025?