Ford has applied for a patent for a technology that lets vehicles repossess, or repo, themselves.

If owners ignore warnings about missed payments, the system would start disabling itself, starting with features such as GPS, air conditioning, cruise control, and the radio. Then it could make loud and irritating sounds when the driver is present, and finally it would lock the owner out of hte car. 

If the owner still doesn't act, the vehicle could drive itself to a spot for a tow truck to pick it up.

The company told NPR it has no plans to roll this out anytime soon. It's also worth noting that Ford doesn't have autonomous vehicles yet, and that submitting patents is a part of the normal course of business.

Share:
More In Technology
Book authors settle copyright lawsuit with AI company Anthropic
A group of book authors has reached a settlement with AI company Anthropic after suing for copyright infringement. A federal appeals court filing Tuesday said both sides have negotiated a proposed class settlement, with terms to be finalized next week. Anthropic declined to comment. A lawyer for the authors called it a "historic settlement." In June, a federal judge ruled that Anthropic didn't break the law by training its chatbot on copyrighted books. However, the company was still facing trial over acquiring those books from online "shadow libraries" of pirated copies.
Load More