Ford has patented an autonomous car that can transform into a lounge while driving - Business Insider
This month, the United States Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent application from a group of Ford employees for an "autonomous car with reconfigurable seats. It's the latest step in Ford's move into the world of self-driving cars, and it comes on the heels of the company's launch of an advanced engineering program headed by the company's Research and Innovation Center in Palo Alto, California. This means that when the car is in autonomous mode, the passenger cabin can be converted into a lounge or a more socially conducive setting — turning the average family sedan into a road-going private jet. In another layout, the front seats can fold in the footwells, creating an ottoman on which the rear-seat passengers can rest their feet. Even better, the patent says all of this reconfiguration can be done while the car is traveling down the road in autonomous mode. Still, even with novel patents on what a self-driving car could look like, Ford still seems well behind some of its competitors in this area. Audi, BMW, and Volvo all have fully autonomous technology in development that can function without any input from the driver — with cars already being tested on public roads. Source: www.businessinsider.com
