Ford Develops Smart Truck Bed Cargo System

We never get bored of digging for patents and trademarks here at CarBuzz. Oftentimes, it results in some incredible insights. Dodge filed a trademark for the name “Rampage” recently, which looks to be either a wild 900-hp Challenger sendoff or a new minitruck to fight the Ford Maverick. Speaking of Ford, that’s exactly who filed the patent we’re here to talk about.

Patent filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) indicate Ford is working on a new kind of cargo management system for trucks like the hot new Maverick and the venerable Ford F-150. This could be a game-changer for truck bed designs.

This is probably the most high-tech patent for keeping stuff in your truck yet. The filing indicates that sensors will determine the distance an item extends beyond the vehicle’s sheet metal. Using that data, the system can then deduce whether or not you’re in violation of any local (or worse) federal regulations. Boom. No more tickets for hanging 2x4s off your bed on the way home from Home Depot.

Based on a sample of the diagrams above and below, it looks like the system is capable of monitoring your stuff constantly. So, if that 2×4 shifts, or God forbid, decides to go for a stroll, you’d be notified of its absence. If the vehicle becomes non-compliant in some regard, you’ll be notified as well.

Of course, there are other applications for this as well. This system can be as precise or as imprecise as the situation requires. Tech like this could be very helpful for parking in tight spaces or crowded job sites. We already have parking sensor tech, so perhaps the patented tech could augment that.

We’d like to know if that position sensing capability can have applications in anti-theft as well. It’d be nice to leave something in the truck bed and have an alarm go off if someone reaches into the bed while the truck is locked. Those same position sensors could be used for that application.

We’d argue this to be more useful than the original patent. How often does one put an oversized object in their truck bed as compared to, say, a cooler or some luggage? We’d bet it’s at least a 2-1 ratio.