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A recently published patent from Ford could be the showtime glimpse of the dystopian AI nightmare we've all feared. The patent describes a self-driving police auto that can monitor for traffic violations, then chase downwardly the perpetrators to deliver a ticket with the cold, unfeeling efficiency that can only be achieved with a car.

The patent, which was originally filed in 2022, doesn't completely replace the human officeholder. Ford envisions this system as working with or without a person behind the wheel. An officer could handle complicated law work with the AI as backup. Without a human partner, the cocky-driving machine could still do basic traffic enforcement.

The car would accept the ability to monitor traffic and identify vehicles breaking the law. It could so initiate pursuit of the car in question, which indicates Ford is expecting to have and so-called Level four or meliorate level of autonomy. That means the car tin can drive itself in varying conditions without a human in control. Level 5 autonomous driving would mean no human control at all. Currently, Waymo is the nearly visible developer of level 4 and 5 autonomy, but Ford and GM are both believed to be at a similar point in development.

This AI constabulary vehicle would too support a law enforcement version of the "internet of things." Ford's patent shows how the automobile could plug into wireless sensors like ruby light cameras and speedometers to collect bear witness that a car has indeed broken the law. Hither'southward where things first to get serious. If information technology's a minor violation that doesn't require chasing you down, the AI law vehicle could just send a citation wirelessly to your car as it drives past. Imagine that — a constabulary motorcar that just cruises downward the highway apart and leaves a trail of speeding tickets in its wake.

Applying automation to law enforcement brings up a number of troubling questions. Tin can a machine be taught to empathize context? What if you need to accelerate to avoid an blow? What if your car is also autonomous and information technology makes a error? Can the AI understand these things, or will you get a ticket regardless?

This is, of course, just a patent. In that location'south no guarantee Ford will actually offering to build a fleet of AI-controlled constabulary cars. Hypothetical patents like this are filed all the fourth dimension by big companies in order to prevent others from staking a claim to the thought. Nonetheless, the technology to do this might not be far off. We can only hope that Ford would plan the AI enforcement vehicles to be friends of humanity and not the outset wave of an eventual robot apocalypse.