Car company Ford has filed a patent for in-car advertising using their cars’ internal infographic systems.
The ads would work by using the vehicle’s cameras to find billboards, and then display those billboard ads on the tech inside the car – things like GPS monitors or reverse camera displays.
According to the patent itself, which was originally filed in 2016, the process would involve “obtaining, via camera, an image of a billboard and identifying, via a processor, a segment of the image.”
As pointed out by Gizmodo, the introduction of this tech could lead to customers being charged more for cars that don’t display ads, similar to a premium subscription to a streaming service.
The tech has been ridiculed online, particularly for its potential to distract drivers and promote dangerous driving.
WTF? What the Ford?? // Get Ready for In-Car Ads https://t.co/qQVswx3Hq4 via @gizmodo
— Thomas Rupprecht (@tomrupprecht) May 13, 2021
Ford Patented In-Car Ads Because We Live In Hell Now https://t.co/io223FCtKh pic.twitter.com/d8su1u25TJ
— Jalopnik (@Jalopnik) May 15, 2021
The company's recently-patented idea for in-car advertising sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
https://t.co/I3e4nrOOjK— VICE (@VICE) May 14, 2021
…because staring at ads while driving is different from texting? https://t.co/7Nhw7unhQM
— TAXI (@designtaxi) May 13, 2021
ford patenting basically in-car ads for your infotainment system… because what we really need from new cars is to be distracted when an ad for hooters pops up over the fuckin gps
— ꜱ.ᴛ.ᴀ.ʀ.ꜱ (@annettebirkn) May 13, 2021
An Associate Professor of Psychology at UNSW, Dr Steven Most, told the publication Drive that, “the dangers of driver distraction are well known, and this extends to distractions caused by digital or eye-catching billboards, which have been found to capture drivers’ attention and may impact driving behaviour.”
“Bringing ads into the cabin would likely make them even harder to ignore.”
Whether Ford actually plans on using the tech is unclear, particularly given the consumer backlash. However, the potential for a future where your GPS displays Macca’s ads is very much still a possibility.
Image: Ford
