Ford Wants To Protect You From Accidentally Trafficking Drugs

Ford has patented a unique drug detection system for its cars. The system will monitor your vehicle so no one plants drugs.  It will prevent people from becoming "blind mules" for traffickers.

Modern vehicles are packed with cameras, microphones, and other high-tech sensors that make them smarter than ever. They can detect and prevent imminent collisions, determine if you're getting too tired to drive, monitor your blind spots, and could one day help ensure you don't become an unwitting pawn in a drug trafficking scheme.

A new Ford patent, filed in March 2023 and published September 19, describes an "unknown cargo detection and evidence collection system" designed to prevent vehicle owners from becoming a "blind mule" for drug traffickers. Blind mules are people caught crossing the border with drugs they did not know about, and it is a common scheme for traffickers looking to get contraband into the United States without risking their freedom.

Ford's system wants to prevent those kinds of shenanigans in a variety of ways through a vehicle's various sensors and cameras, which include checking the vehicle's weight, listening for nearby suspicious activity, and scanning for unfamiliar GPS radio frequencies traveling with the car, as traffickers often watch their victim's location to retrieve the contraband on the other side of the border.

If the system detects some sort of unusual activity—like someone standing too close to the vehicle for too long—then it can activate the cameras, record the surroundings, and store the footage as evidence. Any extra weight added to the vehicle, like several hundred pounds of drugs, would also make it drive differently, which Ford's system would monitor. But like the in-vehicle advertisements patent, it's just a patent for now, and companies love to protect intellectual property even if it's never used.

It seems like an odd thing to fight against, but there have been people caught, prosecuted, and found innocent because they were "blind mules," according to a 2023 inewsource report, facing years of legal headaches. Some had discovered the planted drugs before even crossing, while others had made it across only to find the drugs before the traffickers could collect them.

The rise of fentanyl has presented new challenges, though, as the drug can be shipped in far smaller quantities, making it even easier for traffickers to sneak stuff across. And things like relay attacks that thieves are using to steal vehicles could easily allow drug dealers access to millions of trunks.