Ford Patents Tech That Could Scan Billboards and Show Associated In-Car Ads 160
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motor1: Roads are lined with unattractive billboards many of us ignore on our daily commutes, but Ford's new tech will make sure we don't miss them anymore. The system works by scanning the billboards, interpreting the information on the sign, and delivering the most useful bits right into the vehicle's display. It sounds invasive and distracting, with a side of Orwellian creepiness tossed on top for good measure. For now, though, this is just a patent application and may never see implementation, but it's not difficult to see how this could be useful to automakers and advertisers. Ford's application says the tech could display an advertiser's products or services, directions to the store, or the phone number.
It's not a stretch to imagine a future where you're driving down the road, and your car sees a sign for your favorite restaurant, prompting you to place an order because the vehicle knows Thursday is take-out night. Cars are only getting infused with more technology designed to assist people in their day-to-day lives, and this would be another avenue to do just that, creating a tailored driving experience. It could also force advertisers to pay Ford to access to its fleet of billboard-scanning-equipped cars, expanding revenue streams beyond the car itself. In a comment to Motor1, Ford says the company submits "patents on new inventions as a normal course of business, but they aren't necessarily an indication of new business or product plans."
It's not a stretch to imagine a future where you're driving down the road, and your car sees a sign for your favorite restaurant, prompting you to place an order because the vehicle knows Thursday is take-out night. Cars are only getting infused with more technology designed to assist people in their day-to-day lives, and this would be another avenue to do just that, creating a tailored driving experience. It could also force advertisers to pay Ford to access to its fleet of billboard-scanning-equipped cars, expanding revenue streams beyond the car itself. In a comment to Motor1, Ford says the company submits "patents on new inventions as a normal course of business, but they aren't necessarily an indication of new business or product plans."
But why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Can't targeted ads based on locations already be reliably delivered using location technology?
More to the point, why would -- literally -- anyone want this in/for their car?
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
the same reason people buy smart tv's with baked in ads, the option to buy regular TVs is no longer available.
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Re:But why? (Score:4, Insightful)
easy, just dont give it internet access.
Re:But why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I bought a smart TV because no other type was available at reasonable cost given the specs I wanted.
I definitely did not plug it in for the crappy built in "smart" apps.
I have not plugged it in to the network as there is no need streaming can be easily done with external devices.
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I would do the same if I needed a new TV. My current one is still working fine though. I have an Apple TV which gives me all the streaming facilities I need.
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Same here. Bought a little Intel NUC, flashed Kubuntu on it, and never looked back. As an added bonus it has a wireless keyboard and mouse, so searching and typing is actually functional. I still don't understand how remotes are a thing. They are about the worst input device imaginable.
I got the "smart" TV on super sale loaded with all sorts of garbage, set it to HDMI in mode, and I never see any of the "smart" garbage, and it's never been hooked up to the internet. It's just a dumb TV that I got at a disco
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Have a screaming device that does not show ads (like Nvidia Shield or similar).
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I'm going to stick with devices that don't scream, thank you.
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because it generates ad revenue of course.
What, you though *you* owned the car you drive, just because you paid for it? Yeah, I miss the good old days too.
Re:But why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:But why? (Score:4, Informative)
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More to the point, why would -- literally -- anyone want this in/for their car?
You're traveling on a long-distance trip and you want to find a place to eat. If you try to search for a restaurant, the car can offer you sponsored ads for local places.
It's honestly not that bad of an idea, and can actually help travelers.
Re:But why? (Score:4, Funny)
You're traveling on a long-distance trip and you want to find a place to eat.
If you can't find a place to eat in the U.S. while traveling without having to look it up, you must be blind.
Also, you could have looked up this information ahead of time. Also too, you could always ask someone where to eat if you're in some small, out of the way place.
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If you can't find a place to eat in the U.S. while traveling without having to look it up, you must be blind.
A _good_ place to eat. I usually just use Yelp for that.
Also, you could have looked up this information ahead of time. Also too, you could always ask someone where to eat if you're in some small, out of the way place.
Sure. It's not like it's impossible right now, but I can see the appeal of just pressing a button on the car's screen.
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Every small city/large town seems to have a subreddit. I find those are often great places to ask the locals ahead of time for recommendations. If you tell them what you want (upscale dining, dive bar, BBQ, etc.) you'll get a bunch of people helpfully giving you a short list of good places.
People love to share their local favorites with visitors. Gives them a real sense of pride.
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Yelp is reliable, if you know how to use it. But ignore the overall ratings. Read the 1 star reviews. If people are complaining because the dishes are actually prepared correctly and they don't understand the food, the restaurant is probably pretty good. Positive reviews rarely include enough information.
But really, I'm not always interested in the best restaurant. Just avoiding the worst would be fine.
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More to the point, why would -- literally -- anyone want this in/for their car?
You're traveling on a long-distance trip and you want to find a place to eat. If you try to search for a restaurant, the car can offer you sponsored ads for local places.
Or you could, you know, ask Siri or Google on the device you have with you all the time that's regularly updated and has much better access to such information. Auto manufacturers "smart" infotainment systems suck ass and are rarely updated.
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You don't (lame arguments by advertisers aside) but Ford does, because now they charge the billboard or advertisers for more money do put the ad into your car.
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I'm just glad Ford patented this. As long as they don't license the tech to anyone else, we all benefit because nobody else will be able to do it.
Re:But why? (Score:5, Informative)
Can't targeted ads based on locations already be reliably delivered using location technology?
To answer your question of why, because patents have value regardless of what they do. The more you have, the more power you have to control what you or your competitors can do.
This has nothing to do with location based ads, and more to do with locking up IP.
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It's possible to patent something with the intention of never using it in order to prevent it from being used in the fi-AHAHAHAHAHA Like that would ever happen in this day and age.
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Can't targeted ads based on locations already be reliably delivered using location technology?
Already done in Waze but this seems to be based on their current speed sign reading camera in some sync 3 systems just an extension that could lose a few customers
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Bluetooth beacons if we actually wanted this. Anything but using a camera. This sounds like they were researching waypoint finding using cameras and that failed - but they could get it to work well enough for billboards so they decide to patent in case they can use it as prior art to collect when someone figures out the rest.
Sounds like an safety issue (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like an safety issue
Re:Sounds like an safety issue (Score:5, Funny)
Safety is no reason to infringe on an advertisers' constitutional rights!
Shut up and eat your fucking spam.
Re:Sounds like an safety issue (Score:4, Insightful)
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I think this is forward-thinking, if you have a self driving car you will be using the screen for tasks while it is driving.
Bullshit. You'll either be asleep or on your phone. This notion that people will be doing "tasks" while (if is more appropriate) the car drives itself is bunk. It's another lie dreamt up to make it seem technology will solve all ills while in reality it further complicates simple processes.
And don't forget the sex.
One of the last gasps... (Score:2)
...of a car company that's basically given up on making cars. Sad to see.
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Re: One of the last gasps... (Score:4, Informative)
FORD
Found On Road Dead
Fix Or Repair Daily
Fuel Oil Reserves Drained
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Fucking Old Rebuilt Dodge
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FORD
Found On Road Dead Fix Or Repair Daily Fuel Oil Reserves Drained
Circle the problem, paint it blue
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Forever Overhauling and Rapid Depreciation
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First On Race Day
To end up in the pit lane?
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Driver Returned On Foot
And as a correction to another comment
Fucked Over Rebuilt Dodge
That one is kind of ironic though, because a Dodge is now a Fiat and they are even more shit than they were before. Chrysler hasn't been cool since about 1972
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That one is kind of ironic though, because a Dodge is now a Fix It Again, Tony and they are even more shit than they were before. Chrysler hasn't been cool since about 1972
FTFY
Time to start a list⦠(Score:5, Insightful)
Time to start a list of car companies not to buy cars from with Ford at the top (if this comes to fruition) of the list.
Once I'm done, I wonder if there will be any manufacturers leftâ¦
Re:Time to start a list⦠(Score:5, Interesting)
It's entirely possible that Ford doesn't want other companies using this tech in their self-driving cars as a continuing revenue stream, because it sees self-driving cars as something other companies will do first. Defensive patents exist. Kodak, for example, patented (and sat on) digital camera technology to keep film going for another 20 years.
Re:Time to start a list⦠(Score:4, Insightful)
Kodak invented the Photo CD system, too, and put in mall automati developers that accepted a memory stick ord an SD card to print the photo. Basically they digitalised the photo printing flow, but they didn't see that the paradigm was changing, because people started to make photos, but put them on the web instead of printing them on paper.
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It sounds like a great way to drive people away from buying your vehicles.
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You can easily opt into a program like that. Which would be a boon for those that _want_ it. And the right way to go about it.
Instead, we're often asked to opt-out instead, through jumping through fairly fucking obscure hoops, and that's not OK.
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AWESOME! (Score:3)
If Ford owns the patent then nobody else can use it. Just don't buy a Ford! Win-Win!
Re:AWESOME! (Score:4, Insightful)
licensing...
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Apple will do it better and everyone will want Apple inside their car.
That won't work, there was an Apple in my car but I got hungry and ate it.
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So your GPS-enabled lump of tech... (Score:2)
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See, Ford doesn't want the billboard companies to take a cut. So they sell directly to the brand as an add-on. Efficiency doesn't matter if it's someone else buying the computing power. Selling based on geography would only work if the brand had GPS coordinates for each billboard they appear on - and billboard companies are going to catch on real quick and not make that easy or provide it directly.
So I guess... (Score:5, Insightful)
... I'll be crossing Ford off my list of car manufacturers to buy from in the future. I'll add them back on the list if it turns out they patented this technology so that nobody else could cram in-car ads down our throats.
Any other manufacturers who license this technology will be off the list, too, if they have plans to implement constant in-yer-face advertising.
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Not useful! (Score:2)
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Not very useful technology (Score:2)
I don't see people wanting this kind of technology in their cars. It negates the fine audio systems car makers are putting in their cars these days. How would you like it if you're listening to some wonderful music that is constantly being interrupted by some ad just because one drives past some annoying billboard.
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It won't matter if people want it or not. They will have it if they want to drive a car.I just can't wait to root my car, install an adblocker and a firewall. Or, even better, a pihole!
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Guy 2: I killed a man... You?
Guy 1: I rooted my car
Guy 2: Damn, you crazy!
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It looks like the billboard would be incorporated into the in-car display. I can see this being useful for those restaurants that warn you when you are within 50 miles of them. "Stop at the world famous Casa de Burgers in 50 miles." And then, at 20 miles: "Your lunch can be waiting at Casa de Burgers, order now." You can order using the in-car display and have your food paid-for before you sit down. Part of the reason chain restaurants are so popular is that people want to know what they are going to get.
I
Coming Soon (Score:5, Funny)
uBlock Origin for Ford.
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I was thinking one could simply tape a piece of paper over the screen. But yeah, your idea is more complicated so let's go with that.
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uBlock Origin for Ford.
Car manufacturers will make bad-faith claim of emission tampering and use government to crush any attempts to block this. More so, unlike smartphones, car infotainment hardware is much more diverse, so public jail-breaking is unlikely to be available for most types. So it is even unlikely you will be able to install it.
Burma shave signs (Score:4, Funny)
in your car
Re:Burma shave signs (Score:5, Funny)
At the signs
You wouldn't stare
So to the dash
We moved them there
Burma-Ford
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Don't look at the dashboard
on the road
for your long life
well this will note bode.
Burma Shave.
The big intrusion continues (Score:2)
Who Should Pay for It? (Score:2)
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You will probably have to pay more to get the adds-free version.
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Those resources will already be in the vehicle and used for self-driving functionality. So you will only have to pay for software and integration. But wait, that's not how vehicles are priced. They are priced along purely capitalistic lines, i.e. whatever the market will bear, given competition and the economy. Automakers design almost all vehicles to a price point, with the rare exception of a halo car (most of those are heavily cost-engineered too, but a few are not.) So if the tech isn't profitable, Ford
New Revenue (Score:2)
DISTRACTED DRIVING. (Score:2)
Nooooo thank you!! (Score:2)
I will NOT buy a car with that tech installed.
Who else prefers analog dials to touch screen? (Score:2)
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Literally everyone that's ever driven a car save the designers and marketers prefers analog/physical controls in a car to a touch screen. Of course, it's a service managers wet dream to digitize everything so they can count on replacement parts being needed every time you sneeze to hard when trying to tap the volume buttons or some nonsense, but maybe at some point some of these companies need to start prioritizing what people want to buy over what makes them the most money short-term?
I won't buy a vehicle
Billboards? (Score:3)
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Whenever I travel to the US I'm shocked by the barrage of law firm and drug ads on the side of the roads, it's ugly and super distracting.
Don't forget the "Jesus Saves" billboards next to the ones for strip clubs and adult stores when you're in the Bible Belt.
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No! (Score:2)
Perfect! (Score:2)
So, either the driver will completely ignore the ad, or the driver will be distracted by it, potentially impacting safety. Either is not really a good outcome, but hey, lets just blast more advertising cancer into these people's eyes just in case we land somewhere in between.
I want off this ride.
Just what people wanted... (Score:2)
Start demanding "Right to Repair" (Score:2)
As car manufacturers pack more and more spyware into the machines they sell, it will become absolutely vital for consumers to have the right to disable it without voiding their warranty.
Just what we need .. (Score:3)
more fucking ads .. :( i'm looking forward to an ad blocker for the car :D
Sure, no problem! (Score:2)
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Re: Sure, no problem! (Score:2)
This was my first thought. Internet content is funded by ads. I can see cars being cheaper if you opt in for in car advertising.
no thank you (Score:2)
take-out night (Score:2)
> It's not a stretch to imagine a future where you're driving down the road, and your car sees a sign for your favorite restaurant, prompting you to place an order because the vehicle knows Thursday is take-out night.
If it's my favourite restaurant and it's is take-out night on which I already plan to order food, why didn't I do it before getting into my car?
When exactly ... (Score:2)
Time to delete Internet and start fresh (Score:2)
Tape and Paint (Score:2)
This grossly insidious. Looks like it's time to tape over the sensor that reads the billboards.
Really, the ad industry is the most voracious commercial entity I've ever seen. I firmly believe there is nothing they wouldn't do to vacuum up every bit of data on the planet in an effort to sell you more stuff.
Yeah- not to cure a disease or make life better in any measurable way, but solely to make more money. They don't give a shit if you die in a gutter, as long as you do it penniless after buying their latest
Privacy policy (Score:2)
If you read Ford's privacy policy, you ain't got none. According to that, all of our data are belong to them and they can monetize and do whatever they want with any telemetry or any other data they acquire. Their present stance (well, at least the last time I read it a few years ago) is "If you don't like it, don't use the services." That's fine and dandy for optional services, but since they're all being wrapped into the core of the car that's no longer an option.
What then? Go hunt for 74 Pintos?
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. . . What then? Go hunt for 74 Pintos?
They're easy to find - following the trail of soot and ashes in the junkyard.