Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a blockchain based key management system that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on December 1st, 2022, published on June 6th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0181987.
The Ford Authority Take
Ford has been exploring more secure methods for gaining access to our vehicles for some time now, filing patents for ideas such as a vehicle data protection system, advanced key fobs, and a remote keyless entry method that uses NFC key cards. Additionally, the automaker already uses blockchains – or distributed ledgers with growing lists of records (or blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes – as a way to digitally record transactions and store information. Now, this new patent filing aims to combine those two concepts into one with a system that may wind up being used in future Ford vehicles.
This new patent filing presents us with an idea for a blockchain based key management system, which would enable vehicle owners to create temporary digital keys that could be given to others – even by rental car companies. This system would be able to authenticate those users and even limit a vehicle’s functionally if so desired, and when the specified period of use is up, the key would no longer work at all.
All of this data would be stored on a blockchain and would also be heavily customizable, which could open up a large number of potential uses if it comes to fruition. If nothing else, these digital keys would seemingly make renting a car far more convenient for both renters and rental car agencies, all while streamlining that process in a major way.
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