patented ford autonomous police car hints at a robocop-like future

according to a patent recently published by the US patent office, robocop may not be too far from actually being realized. in the form of a car rather than a robot with an absolute determination to enforce justice though, ford apparently has plans to develop an autonomous police vehicle. in the filed papers, the technology system supposedly encompasses much more than just being driverless. in fact, it explores a whole array of artificial intelligence advancements to aim and operate on-board speed detection equipment, cameras and communicate with other devices in the area, such as stationary speed cameras.

figure one hints at how the vehicle would communicate with other devices in the area

if all this artificial intelligence was not enough though, the robocop-like car would even be smart enough to find hiding spots, all in the pursuit of catching speeders. furthermore, once detected, ford autonomous police car would pursue the wanted vehicle, while in communication with external monitoring equipment along the chase. adding to this more, the robocar would then be able to connect to the vehicle to confirm speeds, exchange driver licenses and even remotely issue tickets and warnings.

figure two details how the robocar would connect to the wanted vehicle remotely

the technology would be a little bit more advanced than this ford fiesta from 1974