Ford New Patent Application is Good News for Logistic Companies
And it makes sense too. While Waymo (Google) is one who initiated the project and first player to do research in the technology, Tesla has been recently in news too much because of its owner’s confidence to release a fully autonomous vehicle soon.
Self-Driving is an industry full of big and small autonomous vehicle players where each one is trying to outperform each other. While big companies have resources to pay billions of dollars to acquire a startup e.g. Amazon acquired Zoox, startups are finding solutions that are best for them, e.g. Nuro in grocery delivery.
Besides tech companies and startups, automakers are also making equally effort and their research shows are they are not behind.
One such automaker is Ford Motor Company. Ford, while having a big share in AV startups Argo AI, is also doing in-house research and finding for autonomous driving solutions.
One such solution we found in the company’s recent patent publication where it provides an autonomous delivery vehicle with a security feature.
The new solution is good news for a logistics company as they don’t have to worry about a package being received by an unauthorized person.
Ford installed a scanning system in its side mirrors which include an imager that illuminates an area where a user is asked for scanning.
By receiving the correct code, the vehicle will open its storage compartment, and then a user can receive the package and close the compartment.
After a successful delivery, the vehicle would move to its next delivery destination and will perform a similar action for secured delivery.
If by any chance, the code doesn’t match then the system will abort the delivery and simply will move to the next destination.
Ford’s patent application is a solution that every autonomous delivery companies want to have. So, it’s safe to say that the company has a good position in the AV industry despite getting less spotlight.