Ford unveils annoying system for in-car advertising

Companies never tire of coming up with more and more advertising methods. Ford is now describing a system that provides drivers in their cars with various personalized ads. These should be based on location, destination and also conversations.

Owning your own car is part of your private life and for many people it is probably a mobile extension of your own four walls. Nevertheless, more and more systems are being developed that keep an eye on drivers. According to a patent that Ford has now filed, it is possible to look much more closely – and listen – for the purpose of ultra-personalized advertising in your own vehicle. As the application to the US Patent Office shows, the developers are devising a system that makes many different forms of contextual advertising possible directly in the car.

For this purpose, information from vehicle sensors such as GPS, speed and weather should be combined with other data such as profiles and voice input. This is intended to reconcile the “natural tendency of the occupants to see as little or no advertising as possible” with the “maximum possibility of advertising-based monetization”, quoted as saying. Motor trend the patent text.

For example, on the way to a shopping center, as indicated by the navigation system, the system could display advertisements on screens or via loudspeakers. Depending on the occupants’ reactions, these messages could then be adapted for later events. Ford also clearly mentions the use of internal microphones to detect the “rhythm of conversation” and “regulate the number (and relevance) of advertisements shown to the occupants.”

All just a fever dream

Shortly after the reports about the patent were published, Ford quickly sought clarification. According to the company, the ideas described in the patent application should not be taken “as an indication of business or product plans.” “Filing patent applications is a normal part of any strong company, as this process protects new ideas and helps us build a solid portfolio of intellectual property,” the company said.