- A patent issued to Ford would see cameras and sensors fitted to cars to help catch passing speeders
- The information from the sensors would be uploaded to nearby police via the internet
- No, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke—but to be fair, it’s also just a patent, which Ford may or may not pursue
Filed squarely under the “let us hope that patent expires” folder, we bring news that Ford may be working on an idea which could use in-car technology to snitch on speeders. The snivelling bed-wetting lawyers employed in the bowels of Postmedia HQ are hastening me to start this post with a caveat, that every single solitary driver in this great nation must strictly adhere to the posted speed limit. Yes, this is true. However, the spectre of one’s own car ringing up the constabulary if a passing driver strays over the limit is frankly the stuff of Big Brother nightmares.
According to the patent uncovered by an outlet in the States, the idea involves using onboard cameras and sensors to detect if a nearby vehicle is exceeding whatever it determines to be the speed limit for that area. A report containing data of the readings and potentially even a photo of the alleged perp could then be sent to the cops or some other recipient via an internet connection.
We think it is at this point any reasonable outlet is obliged to quote Jeff Goldbum’s character Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
Beyond the basic dystopian feel of it all, there stands the issue that Ford’s data on posted speed limits will need to be hyper-accurate in order for this to work, something which is not assured, given this author was in a vehicle the other day which was certain the posted limit on a major four-lane highway was just 40 km/h. Also, there are legal questions regarding the issuance of tickets in such a manner — most jurisdictions require at least a plate number to be captured by photo radar, for example.
Again, it’s worth noting car companies apply for and receive patents all the time, some of which never see the light of day on a production line. Still, the realization that existing tech embedded in Uncle Walt’s new F-150 or Aunt Myra’s rental Escape could be strung together to anonymously narc on people is an uncomfortable reality at best.
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