While the autonomous vehicle market doesn’t practically exist yet, most top carmakers in the world are already thinking a decade ahead and applying for driverless car patents. The best example is probably Ford, which – having already reached the stage where they’re testing their driverless cars in harsh weather conditions to perfect the sensors – is also busying itself with patenting new and ambitious projects.

The latest patent that comes on behalf of Ford is a windshield entertainment system, which I’m going to go ahead and call a ‘momentary discharge of overzealousness’. Carmakers around the world are judging that 2020 will be the year where semi-autonomous vehicles will be hitting the market, given the stage of development their prototypes are in at the current time. Fully automated and driverless cars, however, won’t become a thing for us until the estimated 2030. Even with less than a decade and a half of waiting ahead of us, and yet the patented concept is still amazingly cool.

At least, they get to say they were first when things really do really go down that path.

The patent was published recently by the U.S. Patent Office and gives off some information regarding the way Ford envisions the entertainment system that will lie inside your amazingly smart and independent car. The concept is very reminiscent of how drive-in theaters work, except the cinema is actually driving with you, in the car.

Even though that would’ve been very futuristic and fun to witness, the windshield doesn’t start rendering images as you would expect but instead features a roll-down screen that deploys from above it and has a projector displaying images on it. Going by the same type of thinking, Ford even said that this concept could easily be applied to any other flat surface; say, the rearview mirror. Naturally, in that case, it could display other types of information, and not play “Game of Thrones” while the non-driverless truck behind you is blaring its horns at you.

This is the kind of example that is particularly enticing to witness, even if it’s set to happen in the not so near future. The patent clearly makes clever use of either very new or even upcoming technologies. Rollable displays, for example, were first showcased this year at CES 2016, and it was only a matter of time until someone thought of a great way to put them to use.

Still, we’ve got plenty more Consumer Electronics Shows to attend until we get to watch and doze off to anything in our smart, self-driving cars.

Image Source: 1