Ford’s Patent Help Drivers Control Their Car Just By Using A Smartphone

Driving vehicles can be simulated with more accuracy with the help of motion controls. Many anticipate that this technology may be used to drive cars in real life, too.

The patent developed by Ford for "non-autonomous steering modes.” have recently been introduced by CarBuzz. It brings a simple method to make any personal device with a touchscreen able to guide your vehicle.

There are various ways for that to happen. The first one is your device will be turned into a substitute steering-wheel. Once the system receives your request to switch the driving responsibility from the vehicle to you, the system will connect with your device. Then, it will detect the “base” position of the device to apply to the “steering-wheel”. When it’s done, you can drive your vehicle by rotating your touchscreen device, similar to how you would do while playing racing game on your mobile.

The second mode of the patent is a bit different. In lieu of changing the device’s angle physically in order to turn the vehicle’s wheel, this mode will show us a virtual wheel on the touchscreen. We don’t have to rotate the device anymore but instead use our finger to control the steering wheel to get the vehicle turn to the right angle.

However, some aspect such as acceleration and brake will be left for the vehicle in both modes. The patent will also offer users several ways to connect the vehicle to your device, which vary from using a series of number to using email addresses. The company states that devices which have gyroscope, an accelerometer and the ability to connect through cables or wireless method will work well with the patent.

You may find all those information above a bit unclear, that’s alright. It’s a norm for this type of document to be vague. The developers don’t want their competitors to figure out their secret and invent something alike. As they will then release it to the market before the real inventor does. This instance reminds us immediate to the steering wheel laptop mount developed by Ford. Nevertheless, watching engineers envisioning the future of the vehicle industry is always fascinating.