Ford patents evesdropping system to serve in-car ads

[Blind_Io]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/ford-in-vehicle-advertising-patent/

Yeah, you read the headline right. Ford has patented a system that, per the filing, would use several different sources of information to customize ad content to play in your car. One such information stream that this hypothetical system would use to determine what sort of ads to serve could be could be the voice commands you’ve given to the car. It could also identify your voice and recognize you and your ad preferences, and those of your passengers. Finally, it could listen to your conversations and determine if it’s better to serve you a visual ad while you’re talking, or an audio ad when there’s a lull in the conversation.

Here’s a very, very important disclaimer that we say just about every time we talk about an unusual patent: A patent filing doesn’t indicate that the automaker is intending to implement this system. It just means that it’s protecting its intellectual property from competitors. Ford, of course, could implement this system in some form based on this patent, but don’t presume that it will. (Cue up Jeff Goldblum: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”)

The patent, in a roundabout sort of way, acknowledges that in-car advertising might be received poorly by occupants. For one, there’s a recognition that an occupant’s “natural inclination to seek minimal or no ads” should be balanced with “maximum opportunity for ad-based monetization.” The patent, basically, says that it will use a few different algorithms to bypass occupants’ preference for zero ads by playing ads at certain times, attempting to minimize disruption by understanding the context.

 

[eizbaer]

a) how is that even patentable? What’s new?
2. how does their PR not intervene with something like this? There’s no bad press???

… anyway!

 

[leviathan]

All signs point to this being just another addition to the patent portfolio "just in case" - in 2019, they already patended scanning outdoor billboards and showing digital copies on the infotainment (according to the InsideEVs article). That never materialized, thankfully, so here's hoping this shit won't either.

 

[Blind_Io]

Sometimes these patents are good news, it means no one else can use the tech without Ford's licensing it to them