Ford has filed a patent application for technology that would allow passengers to partially override an autonomous vehicle's controls using a smartphone. The patent describes two control modes - one using tilt controls similar to video games, and one using a virtual steering wheel. While meant as an illustration, it shows Ford is researching how passengers can assist autonomous vehicles in unexpected situations by providing temporary manual control. The technology could help address challenges around autonomous vehicles losing reflexes compared to human drivers.

1. Ford - The possible future of autonomous cars
Dawn Ellmore Employment keep up-to-date on intellectual property news around the
world and in this article we look at Ford’s latest application.
According to records at the US Patent and Trademark Office, Ford’s latest patent
application aims to solve a problem associated with autonomous carsand is called
Method for autonomous vehicle selection when using a vehicle controller. In other
words, technology that will allow passengers to use their smartphones to take control
of an autonomous car.
Innovative technology
Ford is looking at ways for passengers to over-ride an autonomous car to take at
least partial control using their smartphone. Simply tilting the smartphone would
move the front wheels of the vehicle, in a similar way to many driving video games.
It’s seems likely that autonomous cars won’t have a steering wheel or a familiar
dashboard. No matter how sophisticated the technology, it’s unlikely that an
autonomous vehicle will have the same kind of reflexive ability to deal with the
unexpected as human drivers do. This is when a passenger may need to jump in
and over-ride the autonomy of the vehicle. Ford’s answer to this conundrum is to
integrate steering technology into the passenger’s smartphone, and to make it user-
friendly and familiar.
Two driving modes
The application details two driving modes using a touchscreen device to control the
steering. The first mimics the mechanic used in driving video games, which uses ‘tilt-
to-steer’ action. The passenger would literally hold up their smartphone, lock it into

2. place wirelessly and tilt it in the direction that they wish the car to go. It uses the
smartphone’s inbuilt accelerometer and gyroscope to shift the front wheels of the car
and would be intuitive, allowing the passenger to feel the direction they’re moving the
car into.
The other mode involves the passenger using their finger to turn a steering wheel on
their smartphone screen, rather than physically tilting the whole device. Both modes
would not give the passenger full control of the vehicle, which will retain control over
acceleration or braking.
The technology would work on any device, as long as it has the necessary
technological components, which include a display screen, touchscreen, processer,
gyroscope, memory, wireless communication and a processor.
Illustrative only
Ford has said that this content is meant to be illustrative only and does not reflect
any real-life technology yet in place. However, it does represent a statement of intent
that Ford is working on the ideas displayed. They say that this will evolve as they
continue to develop expertise in this area.
In reality, we’re not going to be able to control our autonomous vehicle with a tilt of
our smartphone any time soon, but his shows that resources are going into
developing this for the future. It makes sense that manufacturers such as Ford are
researching how to deal with the problems autonomous driving will bring now, rather
than waiting until it’s a retrospective necessity. It will be interesting to see how this
develops as the world waits for the first autonomous car to hit the road.
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