Dangerous Drivers Beware: You Are Being Watched

A patent applied for by Ford in January 2023 and admitted in July 18th this 2024 points to the widespread use of sensors on cars to detect other vehicles exceeding the speed limit to photograph and report them to the police, thus contributing significantly to road safety.

Cars are increasingly equipped with a wide range of sensors capable of detecting speed, measuring distances and taking images or video, allowing them not only to keep in their lane, adapt their speed to the layout of the road and maintain a safe distance from other vehicles, but also of detecting obstacles or even activating all the cameras and recording video every time the driver presses the horn, to capture all the possible details of an incident. They can also automatically reduce the speed in certain traffic circumstances, adapt it to that of other vehicles on the road, or reduce it depending on the weather or light.

Other vehicles now have a “sentry mode” that automatically activates when the vehicle is parked, and takes several seconds of video of any person or vehicle that comes within a certain distance of it, keeping it in its storage unit for the owner to examine in the event of a break-in or tampering. It is also possible to activate the vehicle’s cameras remotely and monitor it in real time from an app on a smartphone, which would hypothetically turn the vehicle, depending on where it is parked, into a surveillance device.

The use of these sensors is usually about driver or vehicle safety, but Ford’s patent application would take a broader interpretation: our safety is not only determined by our behavior and that of our vehicle, but also by that of the drivers and vehicles around us: A vehicle that drives beyond the limits of the road is a potential danger, and therefore should be reported to the authorities. How many times have we seen a driver doing something dangerous, and wished there was a police car around to issue an on-the-spot fine?

We are increasingly looking at a future where roads are sensorized, one in which the human factor will play a secondary role so as to improve road safety. And now, not only based on the sensors in our vehicles, but also on those around us.

Opinions?

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This post was previously published on Enrique Dans’ blog.

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