Patent application: Ford plans personalized advertising in its cars

According to a patent application from February 2024, Ford will place personalized advertising in its cars in the USA. According to the description in the document published at the end of last month, all that is needed is an additional program in the vehicle’s operating system. Similar to a smartphone, conversations between the vehicle occupants will serve as the basis for selecting the advertisements, and the location of the vehicle and their course will also be taken into account. The speed, type of road and current route planning could also be used for further refinement. The ads tailored to the crew will then be displayed on the central screen on the dashboard. The patent application states that “the conversations are analyzed for keywords or phrases that indicate where the occupants are traveling.” However, it does not describe how the collected data will be protected.

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Wonderfully ambivalent

According to media reports from the USA, first in Motor1, The Record or in Digital Music News, Ford defended its application. The Record quoted a spokesperson as saying: “Filing patent applications is normal in large companies to protect new ideas and build a robust portfolio of intellectual property. The ideas described should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans,” and the sentence, which seems wonderfully ambivalent in this context, “we would always put the customer first when developing and marketing new products.” As early as the beginning of 2023, a Ford patent application sparked a heated controversy. It envisaged that the vehicle should be withdrawn from owners who were late with their installments. Ford then left this idea on the shelf.

(fpi)