New Ford Patent Could Solve Its Quality Problems. Or Make Them Worse

Ford has been struggling with prime quality for what seems like years now. On excessive of taking excessive spot for remembers in various of the earlier years, the automaker has been beneath widespread on indexes like JD Power’s {Car} Dependability Study going once more 10 years.

The company is conscious of, and it is engaged on the problems. “Fixing prime quality is my major priority,” CEO Jim Farley acknowledged in 2022. “It is an necessary initiative in your entire agency.” To help, Ford has employed new executives and invested in AI tech, amongst totally different points. Now a model new patent reveals that Ford could also be truly investing in AI to remedy its prime quality. At this degree, it’s exhausting to consider prime quality getting worse.

AI Exams Autos Whereas It Drives Itself To The Dock

Ford’s new patent is named “Automated {Car} Administration All through Final Assembly and Dispatch.” Certain, patents always embrace the perfect titles, nonetheless we digress. In short, this patent talks about vehicles test-driving themselves to look at for any factors sooner than they even depart the plant’s grounds. Ever hear the outdated story about empty bottles hidden in caverns inside the bodywork? This is ready to put a stop to that prolonged sooner than the car made it to a truck or a put together.

The patent describes a system the place a automobile may very well be pushed autonomously spherical a verify observe. Quite a lot of sensors would file data regarding the automobile whereas an algorithm would resolve which of various verify observe potentialities may very well be pushed by the automobile.

Ford’s pc methods would analyze all of that data, significantly precise sound frequencies, and apply it in direction of recognized values and totally different autos that had achieved the assessments. It can detect squeaks, rattles, and each different points that made any type of noise or vibration.

Further Thorough Testing With A lot much less Work

It raises a great deal of potentialities. Using sound profiles and automated autos might get your hands on rattles and squeaks. It might verify for a shock that’s out of spec or a bushing that isn’t accurately pre-loaded. It might even be sure that the audio system is working fully at volumes that may be hazardous to a person’s listening to. Totally different sensors might look at the carry out of autonomous driving sensors and even the car’s lights. With a wide range of data elements and machine finding out, Ford might applicable for variables like a altering avenue ground, temperature variations, and even rain or snow.

Acceleration, braking, and totally different driveline factors might all be acknowledged sooner than supply the automobile, serving to cut back assure visits after purchase and potential payouts later. If the automobile fails a verify, it can presumably drive itself once more to the designated restore degree.

The easiest part of that’s that Ford might verify the autos with out together with to assembly cases. The autos might endure the assessments whereas they drive themselves to the marshaling yard. At current, autos are pushed from the highway to supply by people. It’s a tiring course of which will end in damaged autos, however it is moreover time that isn’t truly presently used for testing. For a person to do all of this testing all through that drive would lengthen the drive and distract the driving power, shopping for and promoting prime quality for worth and impacting safety. This may seemingly treatment all of those points, making it a top quality win for Ford.

Provide: US Patent And Trademark Office