A brand new Ford patent submitting detailing an elaborate reconfigurable seating system has surfaced.

Printed by the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on Feb. 13, and initially filed on March 21, 2022, the appliance facilities on seats with fold-out parts constructed into their backs. This permits seats to be configured as ahead or backward-facing with out bodily shifting them.

Ford reconfigurable seating patent picture

In a single configuration described within the utility, the entrance seats may very well be moved ahead and fold-out backside sections deployed, permitting front-seat occupants to take a seat going through these within the second row. In three-row automobiles, the second row may in flip be configured so occupants sit going through towards the again, with the third row transformed right into a desk, one drawing included within the utility exhibits.

A few of these seating preparations is probably not allowed beneath present rules, Ford admits within the utility. However the automaker believes that “expertise and the regulatory framework could evolve sooner or later to the place such exercise is protected and permissible.”

Ford reconfigurable seating patent picture

The seating system described right here differs a bit from the Ford patent purposes printed by the USPTO in late 2023. These additionally mentioned seats that may very well be reconfigured to permit front-seat passengers to take a seat going through backward, however concerned pivoting and sliding the seats to maneuver them into completely different positions. Ford has additionally submitted patent purposes for a retracting steering wheel and an in-cab work station, however the latter appears aimed extra at pickup vehicles than the three-row SUV hinted at on this newest utility.

Ford plans to launch a brand new electrical pickup truck codenamed T3 and a three-row SUV spinoff of that mannequin in 2025. Reconfigurable seating would seemingly be match for the SUV, which Ford has stated will goal for 350 miles of vary. Ford has additionally trademarked the Lightstream title, maybe to be used on the T3 pickup or SUV.