Ford stands up for off-roading...

[TSD]

https://carbuzz.com/news/ford-wants-bronco-owners-to-stand-while-driving-off-road

 

[western]

What a completely stupid idea a bunch of 🤡🤡

 

[Snagger]

Two viewpoints on this:

 

1) it could be useful for deep wading and maybe a handful of other extreme buy low speed scenarios, and;

2) companies patent all sort of daft ideas just because if a competitor later wants to do it, they have to pay a boatload of cash to the patent holder - Airbus have patents on cockpits in the cargo holds, cockpits in the tail fin, doughnut shaped cabins and flexible wings that flap in turbulence - it doesn’t mean they intend to use any of it, but they want to prevent competitors from stealing the march should the idea somehow become useful.

[Escape]

Would be hard to comply with the (very justifiable) rule to always keep your seat belt on when off roading...

There is an obvious next step: just get out of the car and control it with your smartphone. Worked ace for 007 in Tomorrow never dies! 🙃 And if you're controlling the vehicle remotely, no need to get out and dirty in the mud etc. Just stay at home and watch your big screen. I know, you don't even need a 4x4, they'll be happy to simulate one for you. No restriction on where you can drive, as long as you pay for the upgrade pack.

[Bowie69]

First Overland did something similar for the jungle passes/water crossings. 

[miketomcat]

I suspect they've patented this because someone else already has the remote driving patent.

Mike

[FridgeFreezer]

For a company based in the land of lawsuits and warning stickers telling you no parts of the car are edible, this seems... optimistic.

[Ed Poore]

I've heard of a few conversions to vehicles down this way like that for foxing at night.

Think the first I'd heard was someone extending a Discovery 1s pedals and steering column through the back of a bobtail / pickup conversion so the farmer could drive and shoot at the same time.

[richp110]

Standing and driving works well on some mowers like the scag v-ride. But I think there would be limited benefits for the bronco driver beyond fruit picking or pretending to be the pope.

[Escape]

I saw a mower like that a while back and couldn't really figure it out. Surely it's easier if you can sit down while mowing large areas? And it's not really that more compact, plenty of space above the deck for a seat. So is it just for visibility? That's no problem at all with a front seat mower either. And even the little tractors have good visibility all around if you bother to move your head a bit.

[Anderzander]

[Happyoldgit]

On 7/17/2023 at 8:26 PM, Ed Poore said:

I've heard of a few conversions to vehicles down this way like that for foxing at night.

Think the first I'd heard was someone extending a Discovery 1s pedals and steering column through the back of a bobtail / pickup conversion so the farmer could drive and shoot at the same time.

I wouldn’t fancy that.

[Daan]

Not ideal when barrel rolling down a hill.

Perhaps for deep wading, but it needs a matching snorkel of the same height.