USPTO
A rather dystopian if somewhat expected use for connected cars started doing the rounds this week with the discovery of a patent, published last month, titled “Systems and methods to repossess a vehicle.”
Filed by Ford, the patent describes a system whereby a bank or leasing company could remotely disable specific features—the air conditioning or the radio—or perhaps the car itself in cases where the person leasing the vehicle hasn’t kept up with payments.
Perhaps in recognition of the fact that the US has become an extremely car-centric society since the 1950s, the patent describes how “the lockout condition may be lifted momentarily in case of an emergency situation so as to allow the vehicle to travel to a medical facility when the emergency is a medical emergency.”
The patent also describes how the lockout could be conditional, allowing owners to continue using the vehicle during the week so disruptions don’t affect their livelihood. The system could also let the car operate within a defined geofence.
In addition to using a vehicle’s GPS sensor to locate the vehicle, the patent describes using other sensors, such as optical cameras, lidar, and ultrasonic sensors, to determine whether the vehicle has been parked in a garage to deter a repossession attempt.
It even makes allowances for autonomous vehicles, which could effectively repossess themselves, driving to an impound lot upon request from a repossession computer.
Ford told Ars, “We do not have any plans to deploy this. We submit patents on new inventions as a normal course of business, but they aren’t necessarily an indication of new business or product plans.”
