Ford engineers have designed a sliding middle console that might be utilized by each passengers and any pets they could have on board.
Cupholders are a standard characteristic in middle consoles, however this model additionally incorporates a holder for a pet’s water bowl. And it might be capable of slide fore and aft to place drinks nearer to particular seats, in response to a Ford patent utility initially filed in 2021 with america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) and solely printed on March 19.
A monitoring system would hold monitor of which seats are occupied, and the place pets are within the automobile. A controller would then reposition the console as wanted.
Pets might additionally put on radio-emitting units to permit the system to maintain monitor of them as they roam concerning the cabin, Ford suggests. The built-in pet bowl would additionally embody a capacitive sensor to find out the quantity of liquid within the bowl, maybe to maintain the controller from transferring the console too abruptly and spilling it.
Ford sliding middle console patent picture
This is only one of a number of current Ford patent filings for reconfigurable inside fittings.
One other just lately printed patent utility describes middle consoles with deployable tables, whereas one other discusses reconfigurable seating that permits seats to be ahead or backward dealing with with out bodily flipping them round.
If it reaches manufacturing, this pet-friendly middle console is also utilized in mixture with the built-in loading ramp Ford has additionally tried to patent. In that just lately surfaced patent utility, Ford discusses utilizing a deployable ramp not just for loading and unloading cargo, however for making it simpler for pets to get into the again of an SUV.