Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for “Autonomous Vehicle Entertainment System,” which will enable the company in turning its autonomous vehicles into mobile movie theaters equipped with screens and projectors that vanish into ceiling as passengers take control of the wheel.
The patent filed by the company read: "The entertainment system controller presents media content on a first display while the vehicle is operating in the autonomous mode and on a second display when the vehicle is operating in a non-autonomous mode."
A design illustrated in the patent carries Ford's vision of autonomous vehicles using screens and projectors which vanish into the ceiling when drivers take control of the vehicle. Primarily, the design resembles a drive-in movie theater while the car is in full-autonomous mode.
When the driver takes control, the screen and projector retract, and a display included within a dashboard, an instrument cluster, or a rearview mirror, come in place of it.
The patent also hints that drivers could take control of the wheel mid-trip. The sketch presented also shows the front seats removed in the autonomous mode, turning the car into a theater and facilitating the drivers to preset the trip duration as autonomous or they would prefer to take command midway.
In January, Ford CTO Raj Nair had said that the company was focused on developing vehicles that would be fully autonomous, "but only in defined conditions, such as highway driving or in smart cities."
In other places, Ford cars would only offer driver assistance technologies such as lane correction, hazard warnings and autonomous parallel parking.
