Portable wheel strap to help load items on top of vehicle.
Posted on 03/01/2023 5:47:12 AM PST by equaviator
A new patent allows Ford to build cars that take action if the owner falls behind on payments by playing annoying sounds – or even driving themselves back to the seller.
Ford has been granted a patent for a system that allows a car to repossess itself if its owner fails to keep up with payments. The firm envisions the car driving itself back to the showroom – or to a scrapyard if the value of the car is low. But a security expert warns that the proposed system could instead be used to steal cars remotely. The patent, which was filed in 2021 but granted only last week, describes how the system would kick in if the car owner failed to respond to messages informing them they were falling behind with payments. At that point, a series of measures would first be used to make the car unpleasant to drive, then impossible. Finally, as a last resort, the car would return itself to the showroom. The system could begin by disabling features such as GPS navigation, the music system or the air conditioning, in order to create what the patent describes as a “certain level of discomfort” for the owner. If this doesn’t work, the patents suggests enabling the car to create an “incessant and unpleasant sound”, such as a chime or beep, every time the owner gets inside.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
The life of a Repo Man isn’t so intense anymore.
Gee. I was hoping for a flying car. Still waiting since 1954.
My first thought was, “I love the Babylon Bee!”
Perhaps Ford should get back to their roots. What happened to the idea of mass producing automobiles that an average American can afford? I don’t even mind if all their cars need to be black to do so.
What could possibly go wrong?.......................
I had driven Fords my entire life up until inventory shortages and pushing EV’s instead of catching up. The switch to Toyota is looking better every day.
For a free car, roll down the windows.
“The system could begin by disabling features such as GPS navigation, the music system or the air conditioning, in order to create what the patent describes as a “certain level of discomfort” for the owner.”
How long until law enforcement uses such an idea to bring in a someone for questioning or arrest?
Wait until they get in their car, lock the doors, and then drive to the nearest police department.
I imagine the Bee will do something with this, maybe the car locks the owner inside and drives itself to the dealership or the bank with the owner screaming.
Or just cuts to the chase, and summarily executes the owner.
Or they just remotely activate the Kill Switch on the car.
We won’t own much of anything in the future. We’ll subscribe to it. Software as service (looking at you Microsoft) was the blueprint. Eliminating physical copies of audio and video entertainment or Amazon having the ability to removed paid for items from Kindle make us less free in exchange for convenience. How long before the classic books you own electronically are updated to the modern woke revisions?
Can’t escape forced ads either. I noticed Walmart now has third party ads on their self checkout screens.
Still waiting on one jihadist to use the autonomous IED to end the autonomous fad. Won’t take long.
Who would but such a vehicle? Give me my old, dumb ‘72 Olds 442 back. I’ll keep it running forever. The most high tech thing on it was the AM/FM radio.
They better make room for a lot of returns. Heard the EVF150 lot is full already.
Mine too. LOL.
You apparently don’t realize that ALL the controls for the vehicle go through the computer and the up.down switch sends a signal to the computer and the computer sends a signal to a relay to open and close the windows.
Same here. It is becoming so much easier to do satire
EVs have this annoying problem with the battery, you know, where at the flip of a coin, the car battery may burst into an inferno, one near impossible to put out.
Portable wheel strap to help load items on top of vehicle.
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