Ford wants to revolutionize driving a car towing a trailer. The idea: allow the driver to control the car and trailer set quietly from his smartphone, like a remote-controlled car.
If you’ve ever driven a car pulling a trailer or caravan, you should know that maneuvering can be extremely difficult. Indeed, in reverse, turning the steering wheel to the left will make the trailer turn… to the right. The driving is also different, and it is in particular for this reason that the manufacturers add options to facilitate driving while towing. This is the case with Tesla’s Trailer mode, which reduces the power of regenerative braking to allow the trailer to stay straight during deceleration.
A smartphone as a remote control
Ford, to whom we owe the F-150 Lightning electric pickup capable of towing more than 4.5 tons, wants to go even further. The American manufacturer has filed a patent in the United States that is innovative to say the least and which seems very ingenious. This describes a mobile application to transform a smartphone into a remote control for the couple car and trailer. This could greatly facilitate maneuvers since the driver could be outside his vehicle to check the surroundings and position himself in the most convenient place for him.
The application could further reduce the constraints related to maneuvers, since Ford describes the possibility for it to display, on the screen of the telephone, the direction of the trailer. And thus warn the driver if the commands he sends to the car (acceleration, braking, steering wheel orientation) are correct or if he needs to adjust them.
What to bury the competition?
For the moment, the American manufacturer has not communicated about this patent and this possible future functionality. However, it is not impossible to implement in the medium term, since it requires a communicating vehicle, which the Fords already are. This would allow the father of the F-150 to offer an additional argument against the active competition, like the future Tesla Cybertruck or the Rivian R1T.
Also remember that Tesla already offers a more or less similar function, with Summon mode. This allows you to control your car from your smartphone, in order to park it in a cramped space. In the US, the functionality goes even further as the car becomes a valet, picking you up directly from where you are in the parking lot.
In a new message posted on Twitter, Elon Musk confirmed the arrival of the reverse “Smart Summon” mode for the end of the 2020 vintage. As a result, Tesla electric vehicles will turn into valets capable…
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