The American automotive giant Ford Motor Company continues to focus on innovation and driver comfort, which is once again confirmed by a new patent application published this month. According to the documents, the company plans to implement technology that automates the process of preparing a car for washing, eliminating the need for driver intervention. This system could appear in Ford models as early as the 2025 model year, if approved for mass production.
The patent describes a fully automated system that can recognize a car approaching a car wash and automatically activate a number of settings that the driver previously had to activate manually. These functions include folding the rearview mirrors, turning off the wipers and putting the transmission in neutral. That is, the car will independently “switch“ to the optimal state for automatic washing, without the need to press buttons or switch levers.
A characteristic feature of this innovation is that Ford is not limited to the technical aspect, but continues to develop the concept of “intelligent interaction“ of the car with the infrastructure. In September 2023, the company filed an application for another patent related to communication between cars - in particular, the ability to exchange data between the vehicle and the car wash complex. The current initiative expands this approach: now it is not just about connecting, but also about independently preparing the car for the cleaning process, taking into account the specifics of the car wash it is approaching.
Although the fact of filing a patent is not yet a guarantee of introducing the function into mass production, Ford emphasizes that they are constantly working to expand their intellectual property portfolio. According to company representatives, such technologies are part of a long-term strategy aimed at improving the interaction between the driver and the car and increasing safety in common but potentially risky situations, such as entering an automatic car wash.
The idea of automatic preparation for washing is not only convenient, but also practical. For example, automatically folding the mirrors reduces the likelihood of damage, turning off the wipers prevents them from being activated under a water jet, and switching to neutral ensures the proper functioning of the rollers. All of these actions are usually performed manually by the driver, which not only creates additional stress, but sometimes leads to errors.