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Ford Gets Patent For Smartphone Car Steering

The rise of Level 5 autonomous vehicles will give birth to cars with no steering wheels or pedals. Strange as that may seem, the first such car is expected to arrive next year on public, in the form of GM’s Cruise.
Fully autonomous Fusion Hybrid testing Dearborn, Michigan 1 photo
Photo: Ford
Up until now, the idea was that humans will be nothing more than passengers in such cars, with no actual control over the direction or speed of the vehicle.

In the last days of September however, Ford received a paten from the United States Paten and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a technology that would give some humans control over the car they’re in, even if it is fully autonomous.

The non-commercial name for the technology is Non-Autonomous Steering Modes and is described as a car capable of receiving a request to steer, and react accordingly.

There are two ways in which steering can be made using this tech, CarBuzz reports. First, there’s the tilt of one’s smartphone or similar device, not unlike the tilting done when playing the various racing games out there.

Then, there’s a virtual steering wheel, which appears in an app of sorts on the mobile device and allows the user to control the direction of travel by moving his finger over the screen.

This technology is not meant to give the passenger full control of the car, as the system will continue to decide on holding on to one or two system - braking, steering or acceleration.

As usual with this type of news, the tech is only in patent phase, meaning Ford wants the basis covered in case such technology becomes a reality. It doesn’t mean it actually will.

The patent was obtained on behalf of Ford on September 25, and the inventor is listed as Steven R. El Aile, a Michigan-based engineer that made a habit over the past few years of creating autonomous car-related tech for Ford.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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