Ford patent details secure drone landing system for moving cars and trucks

As reported in past posted, the Ford Motor Co. is busy working on ways to integrate drones for use with its cars, trucks, and vans, with a newly published patent indicating how the automotive giant is looking to facilitate delivery craft landing on moving vehicles.

As often with industrial patents, the Ford application was filed quite a while before its recent publication – in this case all the way back in 2018. First unearthed Friday by the indefatigable Ford Authority site, patent number 11,655,048 B2 issued May 23 lays out a landing system for drones designed for the surfaces of the company’s vehicles – most probably car or truck rooftops.

Read: Ford plans last-mile delivery drones docking in cargo trucks

Diagrams and text in the patent describe a stack of plates intended for drone landings, the top of which features a series of pins extending outward to facilitate the process. The entire system – presumably envisioning use by delivery trucks or cars receiving incoming orders – could be orchestrated by remote navigation tech triangulating movement with the aerial and ground vehicles.

Ford patent details depict descending craft being aided in landing during windy conditions or onto moving trucks or autos by the rotating pins.

Those would help center the drone and secure it in place as payloads are automatically unloaded, or new charges are attached into place. Once securely in position on the pad, the device deactivates the UAV and starts charging it for its next flight.

“(The) landing platform provides a temporary location for one or more UAVs to land and receive payload, deliver payload, recharge, ‘piggyback’ on vehicle, transfer, data to or from UAV (e.g. image data collected by UAV) and the like,” the Ford drone docking patent reads. “In some embodiments, UAV management system provides flight guidance to UAV when landing on, or taking off from, landing platform. Additionally, UAV management system may provide instructions to landing platform to position (e.g. center) UAV on landing platform.”

Read: Apple receives drone controller connectivity patent

That most recent patent publication is only one of several Ford has filed in anticipation of integrating drones for use with its vehicles. Others have included systems for using delivery vans as operational hubs for multiple UAVs performing last-mile services the same urban areas, and deployment of the craft to quickly reach and jump-start cars with dead batteries.