Toronto, Ontario — Ford has filed a patent for an in-vehicle advertisement system that could be used to bring targeted ads to drivers based on driving information and user preferences.
Originally filed on February 23, 2023 and published on August 29, 2024 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the patent specifically describes “selecting a number of advertisements to present to the user [of a vehicle] during the trip and providing the advertisements to the user during the trip through a human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle.”
As first reported by Ford Authority, if this patent were to come to fruition, it would present vehicle users with even more targeted ads using “things like a vehicle’s destination, locations, speed, drive mode or surrounding traffic to determine what kinds of ads to show as well as how many to display.”
Ford Authority further notes that advertisements could also be tailored to a user’s preference, as well as the history of how they interact with certain ads.
Ultimately, while there is no guarantee that this patent will ever make it to the manufacturing stage, the idea alone has already raised criticism online with consumers questioning the safety and desirability of having in-vehicle advertisements while driving.
