Ford Patents a Movie Screen That Covers Cars' Windshields

Ladies and gentlemen of the not-too-distant time to come, start your engines! And then immediately plough them off, because if you're headed to the movies, you don't demand to drive anywhere.

A recently published Ford patent details the automaker'due south plans to offer drop-down projection screens that encompass auto windshields, transforming automobiles into cinemas.

The most intriguing role of the idea, of course, is that yous really could drive somewhere and watch a motion-picture show at the same time, thanks to Ford's self-driving auto technology.

The patent describes two different modes for the pic theater. When the automobile is in cocky-driving style, the screen would fully cover the windshield, providing a cinematic experience. Only switch to manual drive mode, and the screen would disappear, leaving a more than conventional in-dash brandish to take over movie playback.

There's also a provision for an on-lath computer to monitor the democratic driving sensors and automatically retract the film screen if it senses the car needs to switch to manual mode--perchance if a collision is imminent.

It's a scary thought, to be sure. Imagine watching a James Bond flick merely to exist interrupted by your own impending machine crash.

In what may be a sign of things to come if self-driving cars e'er pull away from the curb, the patent's authors apply the give-and-take "rider" to describe all of the vehicle's occupants. Only when the screen retracts does i of the passengers become a "driver."

The consensus is that information technology's just a matter of time earlier cocky-driving cars hit the market, especially since the main roadblocks are regulatory, not technological. The same goes for the windshield movie screen: patents don't always develop into products, but if Ford ever tries to market it, we imagine the regulatory hurdles would exist intense.