Autonomous cars can always go one step further to improve their safety standards, with that in mind Ford It has just patented an application that will warn pedestrians when they should stand still and not cross, to avoid an accident.
The application described in United States Patent 11396271 would alert “vulnerable road users” (also known as anyone not traveling in a car) to the presence of an autonomous vehicle. The car would communicate its intentions to the person through an “augmented reality” overlay on their smartphone, while also gathering information through machine learning to drive “an impact event prediction indicative of a future impact between the vehicle and the mobile device.
Ford did make the following statement about the patent:
“Ford is a leading automotive innovator and files patents on new inventions as a normal course of business. Patent applications do not necessarily indicate confirmed production plans », he maintained.
For now, the only thing clear is that the app would be unidirectional, that is, only the autonomous car can notify its intentions and not vice versa, which means that the pedestrian has the same rights as a wild animal on the highway.
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