We have a follow-up to Ford’s “Mannequin T Second,” when it introduced a brand new electrical pickup earlier this morning. With this information, the T stands for Tent, although. It is a patent for a rooftop tent that may pivot up and again as a way to use it to retailer the tent aerodynamically over the mattress whenever you’re driving however then it folds excessive when it comes time to make use of it.
Ford’s photos make it seem like a Cybertruck, not a Maverick, however the actuality may very well be an improved OE tenting expertise for a future era of the model’s fashions. A lot to the annoyance of the massive variety of outside gear accent firms it will be competing with, we assume.
Folding Tent Might Make Vary Higher, Not Worse
The patent known as “Shelter System Having Deployable Platform.” The applying was made in February 2024, and it was printed final week.
It is an concept so easy it appears apparent. The tent shops in an angled place, dropping from the highest of the cab to the highest of the tailgate. The angle will assist enhance the truck’s aerodynamic efficiency, which is nice for vary. It additionally ensures you keep most cargo carrying capability within the truck’s field. Plus, it could actually assist shelter what’s within the field from the weather thanks to 2 facet panels that mount to the field and the folded tent to dam airflow.
Once you’re prepared to make use of the tent, it begins to unfold ahead. A particular platform unfolds first and extends to cowl the cab roof. However to offer you most sleeping area, it goes past the entrance of the cab. That extension is made attainable by way of struts that connect to particular mounts on the entrance fenders. The struts take up among the weight, serving to make the tent extra secure and permitting it to be longer with out hanging over the field.
Sleeping Platform Affords A Coated Workspace, Too
The shelter roof then additionally folds ahead, masking the sleeping platform and conserving occupants snugly sheltered. The patent drawings present two home windows within the shelter for air flow and visibility. Additionally they present the consumer standing within the truck field, utilizing the sleeping platform as a desk, all of the whereas coated underneath the shelter roof.
Typical rooftop tents are mounted on a rack on the roof or over the field. They stick out into the breeze, making noise and hurting vary. Ford’s concept would remedy each points. It could additionally improve your truck’s utility if you end up utilizing it for hauling as an alternative of tenting, so long as your cargo is not taller than the mattress.
Will Ford construct it? We’re undecided. We hope that it does, or at the least finds an aftermarket provider to associate with to promote one thing like this. For those who mix the shelter’s integration, efficiency, and suppleness with the flexibility of Ford’s electrical F-150 Lightning to ship greater than 100 kilowatt-hours of energy, you possibly can find yourself with a tenting expertise that’s unparalleled.
This is not Ford’s first in-car home.
It would not be the primary Ford that was a home. Since Mannequin T is within the information feed proper now, it is price remembering that Ford made a half-dozen Mannequin Ts that had been homes. These had been tiny home replicas that had been used for promoting by a number of firms as a result of they’re inconceivable to overlook. And likewise, lovely.
Patent filings don’t assure the usage of such expertise in future automobiles and are sometimes used completely as a method of defending mental property. Such a submitting can’t be construed as affirmation of manufacturing intent.
Supply: US Patent & Trademark Workplace