Ford has applied for a patent that would let criminals attach themselves to your vehicle and hijack you and your kids wherever they want.

No, just kidding. Relax! This is what the article really says:

“Ford has applied for a patent that would have a drone attach itself to your vehicle and act as a surrogate sensor if one of your car’s sensors failed… [if] vehicle registers a sensor fault, it calls… one of these drones, which then finds [your vehicle, lands on it], and acts as a replacement sensor while it directs your vehicle to a nearby repair center…”.

See? Nothing to worry about. What Ford applied for may simply help crackers to not just block your car remotely but also to drive it where they want. With you inside of course.

In general, there are several concrete reasons to apply for absurd patents. And of course, the more connected a driverless car is, the easiest is to hijack it period, passengers and all. There is no real need to rely on drones for that. That’s not the issue. I just find a bit… surprising that certain ideas are labeled super clever workarounds, without mentioning at all the security issues. Or the even more obvious fact that they may reduce, but certainly not eliminate the need for towing trucks: no drone can drive you home is the problem is not a sensor, but a flat tyre or any other “non-sensor” issue.