The latest Bronco is already packed with tech meant to help you off-road. This patent filing suggests the brand’s most unique idea may be yet to come.BY FRED SMITH
PUBLISHED: JUL 8, 2023
USPTO
The Ford Bronco is a capable all-season off-roader with a wide variety of tech designed to help you navigate trails both in and out of the car, but Ford seems to think that the Bronco can go one step further. In a patent filing first spotted by CarBuzz earlier this week, Ford has showcased a technology that would allow “convertible off-roader” (so, Bronco) drivers to move forward at crawling speeds while standing in their car.
The filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows a system that would act as a sort of solution to visibility problems while off-roading without a spotter. The mechanism would allow drivers to stand up in their cars and control the car’s steering with the wheel while managing the throttle and other features from a set of secondary controls. Availability of those features would be tied to sensors that detect whether or not the driver is behind the wheel in new ways, interpreting standing in the car to use these controls as a specific circumstance different from standard driving.
In the illustration shared in the patent filing, that means a driver adopting the “just saw a dinosaur in Jurassic Park” stance and standing through the open roof for a better perspective before using those alternate controls. That would allow drivers to crawl over difficult obstacles slowly with better visibility of the problem in front of them. For drivers who tackle difficult trails without a passenger acting as a spotter, that provides some obvious utility. It is a fairly complicated solution to a limited problem just as easily solved by asking a friend for help, but it is one that Ford is apparently ready to start exploring.