Ford files patent for trailer sideswiping avoidance tech

MANILA: Ford has filed a patent for new technology that can help prevent a trailer being towed by one of its vehicles from hitting nearby objects when the vehicle turns, as revealed in documents posted on lightningowners forum. 

Ford's technology looks poised to prevent sideswiping, which occurs when the trailer collides with nearby objects as it follows a different, tighter path to the vehicle towing it. 

According to the patent documents and speculations, if the sideswipe avoidance system senses that the trailer is about to hit the objects that the towing vehicle has avoided, the vehicle can intervene and help the driver steer the trailer safely around it.

The system could also deduce if there is enough time to swerve, or minimize the impact by applying  the brakes.

The system Ford has patented could use visual cues on the trailer, gathered from remote sensors stuck on the mudguards using magnets and in line with the axle, to help the vehicle assess the trailer's trajectory and distance from close objects. 

Ford Global Technologies, the US carmaker's technology team, originally submitted the idea to the US Patent and Trademarks Office in late 2019, but the documents have only just been published. 

Ford's anti-sideswiping technology could be expected to be rolled out in the Ford F-150, which will be able tow up to 4,500 kilograms, or the electric equivalent of the truck, the F-150 Lightning. 

Photos from lightningowners.com and Ford

Also read: Ford supports appeal to EU for 100% EV sales by 2035