Driverless cars are a hot topic these days. Can you be pulled over for a DUI if you’re using autopilot? Will Uber replace its human drivers with driverless cars? Are they safe? How do you protect them from being hacked? How do you prevent this new wave of technology from turning into a bad science-fiction movie and becoming reality? While many people worry about what would happen if their own driverless car malfunctioned or whether it’s safe to share the road with someone else’s driverless car, Ford has now added something else to fear: driverless police cars — ones that may have a police officer occupying it, as well as in lieu of any human inside.
According to a patent application originally filed in 2016, Ford is seeking a patent on a driverless police car. Although driverless cars are intended to make the roads safer, Ford points out in its application that “[w]hile autonomous vehicles can and will be programmed to obey traffic laws, a human driver can override that programming to control and operate the vehicle at any time. When a vehicle is under the control of a human driver there is a possibility of violation of traffic laws. Thus, there will still be a need to police traffic.” Enter an automated police car, complete with the capabilities to automate ticketing.
Although the application doesn’t include an exhaustive list of the types of violations the driverless police car would be able to address, it specifically provides an example of failure to stop at a stop sign or speeding. The application also suggests that, through artificial intelligence, an automated car could analyze traffic patterns and find the best spots to hide to catch speeders. An automated police car would be equipped to scan license plates, access government records to obtain driver license information, and force the traffic violator to communicate with the driverless police vehicle.
Of course, Ford is careful to explicitly state that its position is not to replace human police officers with robots or automated vehicles. Instead, the patent application notes, the purpose of this invention is to transfer “routine police tasks” to an automated system “so that human police officers can perform the tasks that cannot be automated.”
Patents are, of course, granted for millions of inventions that are never ultimately produced and marketed. Inventors are quick to file patents to ensure monopoly power for novel items. Certainly, Ford would want to lock down the market for automated police vehicles if law enforcement across the country decided to purchase fleets of these Robocop cars, but there’s no telling at this time whether police departments would ultimately find them to be worthy investments. If we do end up with a world of Robocops, though, I know who to blame.
Krista L. Cox is a policy attorney who has spent her career working for non-profit organizations and associations. She has expertise in copyright, patent, and intellectual property enforcement law, as well as international trade. She currently works for a non-profit member association advocating for balanced copyright. You can reach her at [email protected].