Access Denied
www.motortrend.com

Imagine your car playing you an ad based on your destination, vehicle information—and listening to your conversations.

Ford has patented a system that, per the filing, would use several different sources of information to customize ad content to play in your car. One such information stream that this hypothetical system would use to determine what sort of ads to serve could be could be the voice commands you’ve given to the car. It could also identify your voice and recognize you and your ad preferences, and those of your passengers. Finally, it could listen to your conversations and determine if it’s better to serve you a visual ad while you’re talking, or an audio ad when there’s a lull in the conversation.

If the system described in the patent knew that you were headed to the mall on the freeway based on destination information from the nav system and vehicle speed, it could consider how many ads to serve in the time you’ll be in the car, and whether to serve them on a screen or based through the audio system. If you respond more positively to audio ads, it might serve you more of those—how does every five minutes sound?

But what if the weather’s bad, traffic is heavy, and you’re chatting away with your passenger? Ford describes the system using the external sensors to perceive traffic levels and weather, and the internal microphone to understand conversational cadence, to “regulate the number (and relevance) of ads shown” to the occupants. Using the GPS, if it knows you’ve parked near a store, it might serve you ads relevant to that retail location. Got passengers? Maybe you get an audio ad, and they get a visual one.

Given how consumers feel about advertising and in-car privacy, it is difficult to imagine an implementation of this system that wouldn’t generate blowback. But again, the patent isn’t describing some imminent implementation; it just protects Ford’s IP that describes a possible system. That said, with the encroachment of subscription-based features, perhaps it’s only a matter of time before you’re accepting a $20/month discount to let your new Ford play you ads on your commute.

  • OmgItBurns@discuss.onlineEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    If/when this happens it will just lead to a rise in aftermarket products to disable the feature.

    Hell, since they will probably use AI to parse the audio you can probably use it to fuck with your friends. Like when people would put out hyper-specific FB ads but via cars.

    • teamevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      I’ve got a solid 20 that Ford also patents whatever it is that turns this system off…

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      And then they integrate the systems with proprietary cross checking so that you can’t swap out or disconnect components, doing so will throw a code that will prevent cars from passing inspection on the CAN bus or cause a no-start. Why? Because they’ll put that shit in the contract when you buy.

      Just like the outrage over car features needing subscriptions to activate, people will bitch and complain, then they buy the car anyway.

  • exanime@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I had discarded the idea of buying anything Ford a long time ago… this just tells me I had been right all along and there is zero reason to reconsider

    Side note: is it me or the worst enshitification news always seem to come from Ford (out of the American car manufacturers)?

  • vegeta@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    I’m already sick of ads at gas station pumps, and will just sit in my car in order to avoid them.

    • Kaboom@reddthat.comEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      It’s mostly valero pulling this shit. Everyone else seems to have gotten the memo

    • Telorand@reddthat.comEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      One of the buttons around the screen mutes them, in case you weren’t aware. I’ve found that it’s usually one of the ones on the top right, but it can vary.

      • LucasWaffyWaf@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        Not always. I’ve been to a couple pumps where none of the buttons did anything. At that point I’m tempted to get a squirt gun to spray into the speakers, hope it does something useful to the speakers.

        • bobs_monkey@lemm.eeEnglish
          0·
          8 months ago

          Most of Arco/BPs new pumps don’t allow mute as far as I’ve found, I just layer electrical tape on the speaker

      • Anti_Iridium@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        I swear I’m going to break one of those pumps with how hard I push the buttons on the fucking thing that starts talking to me. I’ll never choose to go to a fuel station with those.

    • Askundilras@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Ads at the pump? What do you live? Luckily I haven’t seen them in Germany yet. Guess it’s only a matter of time…

      • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldBannedEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        Yeah we got those. You come back from work or a late road trip, maybe listening to quiet jazz to temper things down, suddenly at the pump this over powering buzzing noise “the all new slushy! Get them today! It’s inside! One free on every 50 fill ups! See inside for details!”.

      • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        Oh just wait. They are motivating me further to go electric. Very widespread across the US and very loud. Despite what people love to say about mute buttons on forums, many do not have a mute option.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldBannedEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    Me: I’ll just need a screwdriver and a hammer to chisel that shit off the motherboard from the radio 📻…

    Ford: actually it’s an integral part of the fuel pump, the fuel injection timing system, the breaking system and the battery BMS system…and the head light controller…it’s in all vital systems!

    Me: check out my all new Honda!

    • Etterra@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Maybe there’s a way to dumb down the technology with 1950s bypasses. Just skip the computer entirely.

  • fubarx@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    NEW feature: As you drive down the road, Ford cars will automatically take over and drive you to the nearest sponsor location. Hungry? It will take over and swerve into the nearest KFC drive-thru. Next stop, CVS pharmacy, then Office Depot.

    Disclaimer: Disabling AutoAd feature requires monthly subscription.

  • Bookmeat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    Give me a free car and I’ll test it out with this “service”. I’m not buying a car that advertises to me.

  • marzhall@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    Finally I can add to the list:

    • Fix Or Repair Daily
    • Found On Road Dead

    and now,

    • Frequently Off Recording Device
  • MrAlternateTape@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    I really hope my car holds out for a long time, because fuck ads in my car. I don’t want my car to listen to anything but the controls I use to drive.

    Is there really anybody who thinks they would like that?

    • plz1@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Is there really anybody who thinks they would like that?

      Auto companies don’t care what people like, only what level of BS people would put up with before going to a different brand.

      • 11111one11111@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        8 months ago

        Companies don’t care what people like, only what level of BS people would put up with before going to a different brand.

        Ftfy

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          8 months ago

          Things were better because people would “go to a different brand” and sue morons more often. They’d also be more confident of their own knowledge in various technical things.

          Things becoming more complex was used to gaslight a lot of people into questioning their own knowledge about what they need. Such gaslighting first and foremost works via people being ashamed to be stupid and pretending they know it all.

          Most (even technical) people are like this - they feel that they don’t understand the world around them, it’s stressing, spying, rigged, chaotic in the wrong places and ordered in the wrong places, - but they are ashamed and pretend. And what they pretend to think specifically and what they try to follow is communicated to them via ads, via movies, via corporate bullshit. Because they have nothing else to turn to.

          It’s a bit similar to the way some autistic people do imitation - they too imitate ads and movies more than people around them (well, maybe also imitate people they are romantically attracted to, or those they consider cool).

          Or to the way state propaganda works in atomized societies - people don’t have good horizontal ties, but pretend to have them, while taking the material from what they hear on TV.

          20 years ago would you use something like an Android phone with no buttons or would you crush it with a hammer? Would you use something like Windows 10 or would you ignore that crap? Would you buy a car that spies after you?

  • StarshotJohn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    Will they turn it off when you test drive? I bet there will be some nefarious test drive mode that doesn’t show how fucked the car’s systems are.