Ford Patent Shows Autonomous Police Car That Can Hide

We all know that autonomous cars are coming and eventually we won't need to drive at all. That autonomous future might bring something with it that you haven't considered, autonomous police cars. Ford has a new patent application that shows an autonomous police car that is able to find its own hiding spot.

Police officers often use this same tactic today by finding a hiding spot to catch speeders or people breaking other traffic laws. The patent application that Ford has filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office stipulates that the tech could be used "in lieu of or in addition to human police officers."

The autonomous vehicle would be able to use AI and communicate with other law enforcement devices in the area like cameras. One image also appears to show the autonomous police car communicating with the autonomous vehicle. The timeline shows the autonomous auto telling the police car it is in autonomous mode and giving an image of the driver's license for the person operating the vehicle if in manual mode.

I rather thought that the thing with autonomous autos is that they would be unable to break traffic laws like speeding. The system also appears to show the police vehicle sending digital notification of a ticket or a warning.

Naturally, a patent application certainly doesn't mean that the tech described in the patent will ever come to be. It does show a future where The Man can still pop out of nowhere and write you a ticket.

SOURCE: Jalopnik