Ford desires to make automobile interiors extra like dwelling rooms.

A current patent software from the automaker printed by america Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) April 20, 2023, however initially filed Oct. 14, 2021, exhibits a movable in-vehicle desk positioned among the many seats in a automobile cabin.

In keeping with the patent software, the desk could be mounted to a base affixed to the ground, and have a pivoting arm that may enable it to be positioned both parallel or perpendicular to a automobile’s heart line. The movable floor may additionally flip up, revealing a display screen mounted on the underside. Ford included footrests as nicely.

The drawings present tables behind what would seemingly be an SUV and rather than the entrance passenger seat. Additionally they present again seats mounted longitudinally within the automobile as a substitute of latitudinally like common to face the desk.

This isn’t the primary time an automaker has designed an in-vehicle desk. The Chrysler City & Nation and Dodge Grand Caravan as soon as supplied a fold-out desk as a part of an elective swiveling-seat configuration. This allowed seats within the rear two rows to face one another with the desk in between. That function went away with the introduction of the Chrysler Pacifica for the 2017 mannequin yr.

Ford hasn’t bought minivans within the U.S. in years, nevertheless it does appear fascinated about including furnishings to the cabins of different autos. It already gives fold-flat seats within the F-150 pickup truck, in addition to a folding shifter that turns the middle console right into a flat workspace.

Ford has additionally tried to patent a dashboard desk and lay-down entrance seats. The previous describes a small desk that pops out from a recess underneath the dashboard, whereas extra patent functions focus on reclining seats packaged with a retractable steering wheel and pedals to make in-car naps extra comfy. Whether or not any of those options make it into manufacturing autos stays to be seen, nonetheless. Automakers usually patent concepts to safe mental property earlier than locking in manufacturing plans.