In an exciting new patent application Ford discloses systems and methods for personalized advertisement that, in their own evocative words, “further provide the opposite force to a user’s natural inclination to seek minimal or no ads.”
What follows is a rather detailed examination of algorithmic frog-boiling based on basically every shred of information that would be available to an HMI with access to present and historical vehicle movement, location, internal camera and mic, and 3rd party data.
It’s a slightly fascinating document in that it lays out the fundamentally adversarial relationship almost immediately; then goes on for pages about methods for inferring user preference as though any of what it describes would be user preference.
They even come out to say themselves and Ford reiterated that this is often just normal business practice to get patents on file even if they are likely to never be used. That’s not to say Ford (or other manufacturers) would never pursue this but over the years I’ve seen this same kind of play. Weird ‘wtf were they thinking?!’ style patents that never really see the light of day.
That all said, I’d be very curious while brainstorming this what kind of concessions they’d consider offering the consumer for having these ads play? Maybe some form of discount on the loan if financed directly through Ford? Given the high prices of new cars. Maybe some discounts on things like gas/EV charging? They’ve already got functionality for initiating a fuelling session at participating gas stations from the infotainment system. And EV’s with Plug and Charge through FordPass can tie straight into Ford’s backend for billing. It’s definitely a curious thought to consider.
