The patent notes that one could use existing controls like the steering wheel, touchscreen displays, or buttons to interact with the game. The steering wheel, if paired with a steer-by-wire system, could potentially be used in racing games, but simpler games are more likely; the patent talks about a game like Tetris being controlled using a single control, for example, the button or stalk used for the adaptive cruise control system.
If the car should begin moving for any reason, the game would automatically shut down instantly and would not restart until the environment was found to be safe and the car was confirmed to be stopped – checks that would be completed every time a game is started.
The tech is clearly meant to help pass the time when waiting for an electric vehicle like the Mustang Mach-E to be recharged, but with the pace at which recharging tech is improving, we doubt this idea will ever be worth putting into production. Then again, we never imagined the day we’d see TikTok integration in cars.
