Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for methods to predict green lights that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on October 13th, 2023, published on April 17th, 2025, and assigned serial number 0124790.
The Ford Authority Take
For years now, many companies – including Ford – have explored the idea of using technology to keep vehicles flowing through green lights, rather than having to stop at every traffic signal. Such a thing could not only cut down on commute times and traffic, but also, pollution and fuel consumption. Those ideas typically rely on vehicle-to-everything communication tech to function, but this newly published patent takes a slightly different approach with an idea for methods to predict green lights that may be used in future Ford vehicles.
As Ford points out in this patent filing, drivers typically don’t know when, exactly, a light will turn from red to green or vice versa, nor how much time they might have to pass through a green light before it changes to yellow. As such, this proposed system would be able to obtain green light duration info from vehicles that are already stopped at a light.
From there, the system would use that info to estimate how much time it will take for a vehicle to cross through a light and compare it to the amount of time it takes for that light to turn red – and from there, the probability of a vehicle crossing through the light while it’s green, notifying the driver afterward. It’s certainly useful information that may wind up saving us from stopping at too many red lights, if it does wind up coming to fruition.
“Submitting patent applications is a normal part of any strong business as the process protects new ideas and helps us build a robust portfolio of intellectual property,” Ford said in a statement. “The ideas described within a patent application should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans. No matter what the patent application outlines, we will always put the customer first in the decision-making behind the development and marketing of new products and services.”
Comment
My wife and I are in our mid 70s and it is hard to get into trucks and suv’s ! We own a 2019 Flex and LOVE the vehicle and it is easy to get in and out of even after the wife had both Knees replaced! We had an 2016 Explorer and was too high for her to get in and out of. So Ford when are going to bring back a car or Flex type car?