Ford Gets Patent for Vehicle Technology Fueled by Cryptocurrency

A subsidiary of Ford called Ford Global Technologies has received a patent for technology that is fueled by cryptocurrency and could help motorists to reach their destination faster. The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent for the new technology that is named Cooperatively Managed Merge and Pass (CMMP). Ford had filed the patent application for this technology back in 2016.

Essentially, CMMP is a token-based system that serves as a vehicle-to-vehicle or car-to-car communication platform which drivers can use to exchange details of traffic patterns. The system also has the capability to keep tabs on drivers and collect data.

According to the patent, the system works on the basis of individual token-based transactions, which are used by merchant vehicles and the consumers’ vehicles to conduct trade.
Consumer vehicles can gain “preferential lane access” during times of heavy traffic, for a fee that is paid using cryptocurrency and this allows them to get through traffic faster. The patent explained that the sellers in these transactions would be merchant vehicles that voluntarily opted to occupy slower lanes of traffic so that the consumer vehicles could merge into their lanes and pass as needed. For this concession, they are paid in CCMP tokens and the number of tokens would depend on the time advantage that the buyer would gain.
It is not clear if the platform would support other cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin or XRP.

Ford has recently invested huge amounts in advanced technology. The carmaker has committed that it would be investing USD 11 billion in electrified vehicles by 2022. Ford is also invested heavily in mobile technology and has plans to spend over USD 1 billion in artificial intelligence over the next five years.
Such a token-fueled system would make sense in the new era of smart vehicles.