Ford hopes to begin serving in-car ads

Picture this: you’re driving to work during your morning commute.

You’re playing your favourite chill vibes playlist, maybe even a podcast reminding you that health is wealth and mindfulness will save you from the incessant 9-5 grind.

You sip your coconut latte. You’re feeling calm, energised, ready to take on what the day has to offer.

And BAM. You’re hit with an unskippable ad on your car’s infotainment screen for what deals are on offer at the nearest Texaco.

Annoying – maybe even infuriating. Lucky it’s just a story, right? Right??????

For now, yes.

However, Ford has recently filed a patent to do exactly that.

On paper, this might sound like a clever way for brands to connect with consumers. But in reality, it kind of feels like a moment ripped straight out of Altered Carbon: everywhere we turn, there’s a screen, and every screen has something to sell.

And so, begs the question:

Are these potential in-car ads an innovative advertising channel? Or is this just another example of an industry running out of places to capture our attention?

Brands today are battling for our eyeballs harder than ever.

We know this. Because it's what we do. You wouldn’t be reading this otherwise. I mean, this newsletter is literally called Your Attention Please.

Social feeds, streaming services, even physical spaces are filled with ads. That’s nothing new. And with the rise of ad blockers and paid subscriptions, advertisers are finding their ways to reach us getting narrower—and that’s pushing them to search for 'untapped' spaces.

Enter: your own damn car.

Once a quiet, ad-free sanctuary (assuming you don’t count highway billboards and the like)—might soon become just another screen to hijack.

Car manufacturer Ford Motor Company has now filed a patent application for an in-vehicle advertisement presentation system based on information derived from several trip and driver characteristics.

Among those characteristics—human conversations.

The abstract of the application reads:

'An example method includes determining vehicle information for a trip, the vehicle information including any one or more of a current vehicle location, a vehicle speed, a drive mode, and/or traffic information, the user information including any one or more of a route prediction, a speed prediction for the trip, and/or a destination, determining user preferences for advertisements from any one or more of audio signals within the vehicle and/or historical user data, selecting a number of the advertisements to present to the user during the trip, and providing the advertisements to the user during the trip through a human-machine interface of the vehicle.'

So, basically, your car will not only spy on your driving behaviour, your present and future locations, and your requested driving routes. It would also eavesdrop on you.

Fun.

Did we also forget the safety issues that could arise when driving while ads bombard us?

The fact that it's about as captive as an audience could get would usually sound like a marketer's dream.

Unlike phones or TVs, you can’t exactly look away. You’re in a moving vehicle with limited ability to avoid paying attention.

And sure, Ford might promise these ads will only pop up when parked—but how long until they decide we can 'handle' a few ads on the highway, too?

Obviously, this is speculation. But with the increasing infiltration of our personal spaces, is anything really off the table at this point?

Then there’s the data aspect.

Privacy wise, cars already gather a shocking amount of data about us—our destinations, preferred routes, even who’s in the car. Will these ads end up creepily tailored to our personal routines? It’s one thing for Google to know what we like, but our cars?

Fun fact: people generally like to feel they’ve gotten what they paid for.

Ads on a free app make sense.

Ads in a $30,000 car? Less so. Very much less so.

For years, platforms have justified ads as a way to provide a 'free' service. But when the product itself comes with a hefty price tag, these ads start feeling less like a convenience and more like a violation.

From an ethical standpoint, this raises questions. Will Ford let drivers opt out? Will this be something users can disable, or is this a mandatory 'feature'? And what happens to brand trust when we start associating Ford with intrusions on our privacy?

There’s an argument to be made that, if done right, in-car ads could enhance the driving experience.

A well-timed ad for a nearby restaurant on a road trip? Not terrible. Coupons for gas stations along your route? Fair enough.

It’s a bit like the navigation app Waze, which sneakily recommends nearby stops. But while Waze is an optional app we’re all free to delete, these Ford ads could feel more like a permanent fixture.

On the other hand - this could be the beginning of a reality where every quiet space is commodified.

The car used to be a refuge from the noise. But in-car ads could mark the start of a slippery slope.

First, it’s infotainment screens, but what’s next? Digital billboards on the dashboard?

If our homes, our phones, and now our cars are all platforms for brands to sell to us, are there any 'off-limits' spaces left? It’s the kind of future where everything is an opportunity to buy something, and everywhere is a potential ad space.

Exciting? Maybe. Creepy? Definitely. Loud? Unimaginably.

So, is this the road we want to go down?

Ford’s patent begs a bigger question for all of us: where do we draw the line on ads in our personal spaces?

Sure, we might just shrug it off as the way things are headed. Or maybe it’s time to ask automakers to keep our cars a little less ad-driven, a little more focused on, you know, driving and stuff.

As for whether in-car ads will go full-blown mainstream, only time will tell.

But one thing’s for sure—whether it’s a useful heads-up or a commercialised nuisance, Ford’s new patent might steer us into a future where we really can’t escape the pitch.

Buckle up.

-Sophie, Writer