We're used to reporting new patent applications from camera and phone manufacturers, but a camera-related patent from the Ford Motor Company? That's a new one for us. However, this isn't Ford trying to make it into our best mirrorless camera list, or even our best dashcam selection. Rather, the patent concerns camera tech that can detect speeding vehicles and automatically report them to the police.
The title of the patent is "Systems and Methods for Detecting Speeding Violations", originally filed by Ford on January 12 2023. It discusses methods that a future Ford vehicle could use to monitor the speed of oncoming/nearby cars. Should such a vehicle be approaching at a speed above the posted speed limit, the integrated camera could photograph the vehicle and a report with the captured speed data and offending vehicle details could then be sent to a nearby police car, or any internet-connected law enforcement unit.
At first glance this all sounds rather dystopian and a potential violation of civil liberties - is Ford really engineering future cars to spy on unsuspecting road users and automatically report them to the police, all without its customers knowing or consenting to being unwitting snitches? Well actually, this is not what Ford has in mind. In a statement from Ford to Motor Authority:
"The patent explicitly states this idea is specific for application in law enforcement vehicles, such as the Ford Police Interceptor, and it's a system that would automate a capability that law enforcement already have in use today, except this would utilize the built-in system and sensors in the vehicle. This patent does not state that driving data from customers' vehicles would be shared with law enforcement, which is what some media have incorrectly reported. And note, patent applications are intended to protect new ideas but aren't necessarily an indication of new business or product plans."
So there you have it: yes the anti-speeding camera tech in the patent would work as you'd expect, but it wouldn't be incorporated into civilian Ford vehicles - it's only intended for Ford police cars. This makes much more sense, as there wouldn't be much of a business case for fitting speed detection cameras to normal consumer cars - it'd increase manufacturing costs, and few customers would be happy to pay a premium for a feature that has little benefit to them directly.
The business case for integrating this kind of surveillance tech into police vehicles is far stronger though. Police vehicle contracts can be lucrative, so if a car manufacturer can supply police interceptors with police equipment like this already built in, it would save municipal police forces the time and expense of having to retrofit such equipment, and could give Ford an advantage over other vehicle manufacturers when bidding for police contracts.
See the best radar detectors in the US, and the best speed camera detectors in the UK
