A new patent issued yesterday by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reveals Ford could soon be adding a new feature to their lineup of vehicles – Pet Mode.
According to US Patent 11,247,693 published on February 15, 2022, the feature would operate much like Tesla’s Dog Mode, but would instead be activated by a dedicated button on a keyfob.
Of course, the symbol for the button is a dog’s paw print.
The patent describes how after pressing the button, “a coded wireless signal is sent to a vehicle computer,” which will activate certain functions to “create a comfortable environment for a pet within the vehicle.”
Ford’s Pet Mode appears as though it will be customizable, as some examples of the functions that could be performed include “one or more windows to lower, the sunroof to open the trunk lift gate to pivot open, and the seat backs of one or more rows of seats to tilt or fold down.” (h/t: Lightning Owners Forum)
While the patent was only issued yesterday, it was originally filed on October 25, 2018.
You might not be familiar with that date, but it is exactly one week after Elon Musk said “Yes” to a Tesla owner who had requested adding a dog mode feature over Twitter.
Can you put a dog mode on the Tesla Model 3. Where the music plays and the ac is on, with a display on screen saying “I’m fine my owner will be right back”?
— nynex (@nynex) October 19, 2018
Tesla officially launched the feature a few months later in February 2019.
Introducing Dog Mode: set a cabin temperature to keep your dog comfortable while letting passersby know they don't need to worry pic.twitter.com/xFU6MGZT53
— Tesla (@Tesla) February 14, 2019
It could be that the timing is completely coincidental and that Ford had been working on ‘Pet Mode’ for several months and just happened to file the application with the USPTO on October 25.
Or it could be that Ford only came up with it after seeing Musk’s tweet and was trying to get one paw foot up on the competition.
What do you think?
You can read the full patent below.
petmode
