The U.S.- based car manufacturer Ford has presented a patent for a new application, claiming to improve communication between the vehicles in traffic. The new “apparatus” involves a token exchange in order to provide a smoother traffic organization, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The application was submitted yesterday, 27th March 2018. The disorganization in traffic is caused when “reduced traffic flow is compounded by the psychology of human drivers who focus on their individual travel time preferences“, according to Ford’s patent document submitted on 16th September 2017. Thus, Ford plans to focus more on the relationship between drivers and their preferences through a system called “Cooperatively Managed Merge and Pass (CMMP)”.

“Traffic congestion occurs when one or more lanes of a multilane road are blocked, for example, because of a construction or an accident. The blocked lanes reduce the flow rate of vehicles through the section of the road with the blocked lanes. The reduced flow is compounded due to the psychology of human drivers who focus on their individual travel time preferences. “, describes the Patent.

The patent describes the potential for vehicles to communicate and cooperate with each other to make traffic more efficient. It shows the model after which the next vehicles will be organized, namely Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) in order to connect with other cars through CMMP tokens. Thus, the driver as an individual will turn into “the group flow through the traffic cataract.”

Here is how you can get CMMP tokens

Only machines that have implemented the new system will benefit from the opportunity to change CMMP tokens between other members. For example, you can exchange CMMP tokens when a driver “occupies slower lanes of traffic”. Also, drivers who allow other individuals to pass on their lane will be rewarded with tokens. Thus, individuals who forget about their preferences and think about their colleagues in traffic will receive tokens from other participating vehicles.

A last example, in urgent situations when a driver is late, he or she can send requests to other vehicles in order to let him or her go ahead, of course, paying a certain amount of token.