Future Fords Will Double Up As Mobile Gaming Simulators With Built-In Projectors
Future Fords Will Double Up As Mobile Gaming Simulators With Built-In Projectors
Ford has described a system that repurposes existing vehicle hardware for gaming when the vehicle is not driving in a patent that CarBuzz discovered at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. As part of the system, the headlights would act as projectors for all gaming imagery, and existing hardware in the car (or supplementary devices like smartphones or PlayStation controllers) would be used to control gaming functions.
Gaming in cars is nothing new; Tesla was among the first to introduce the concept that has spread across the automotive industry like wildfire, and even BMW has got in on the action. So what makes Ford’s take on the subject unique?
Using high-definition Matrix LED headlights, a super-crisp image can easily be projected onto a flat surface. The Mercedes Digital Light system can project warnings onto the road with remarkable clarity, and lighting technology is only getting better, so Ford’s idea is possible. The Blue Oval mentions that low-beam intensity could be used to project imagery onto the road or an empty parking lot, and if a flat wall is nearby, one could use the high-beams for an even crisper image. The patent even mentions the ability to compensate for weak lighting, such as when fog or rain is present.
So what’s the point? A clearer image is possible using the car’s existing cabin displays, and the latest Ford system is pretty good, but the patent notes that these screens cannot easily be viewed by passengers. Most displays are meant for the driver or, at best, the passenger riding shotgun. With a large image projected ahead of the car, says Ford, all passengers can enjoy the game.
The patent notes that one could use existing controls like the steering wheel, touchscreen displays, or buttons to interact with the game. The steering wheel, if paired with a steer-by-wire system, could potentially be used in racing games, but simpler games are more likely; the patent talks about a game like Tetris being controlled using a single control, for example, the button or stalk used for the adaptive cruise control system.
If the car should begin moving for any reason, the game would automatically shut down instantly and would not restart until the environment was found to be safe and the car was confirmed to be stopped – checks that would be completed every time a game is started.
The tech is clearly meant to help pass the time when waiting for an electric vehicle like the Mustang Mach-E to be recharged, but with the pace at which recharging tech is improving, we doubt this idea will ever be worth putting into production. Then again, we never imagined the day we’d see TikTok integration in cars.
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