Ford is developing a robot police car to catch speeding drivers and slap them with fines
The car giant has been issued a patent for the artificial intelligence system that features a driverless police car to track down law-breaking motorists
FORD is developing a robot police car that will hunt down speeding drivers and issue fines.
The car giant has been issued with a patent for the artificial intelligence tech that will catch motorists breaking road laws.
The sketches filed with the US Patent & Trademark Office even show the sneaky Robocop hiding behind a tree.
Cameras and wireless sensors will allow it to track cars and connect over wifi to let them know they've broken the law.
The regular car would then message back revealing if it was in driverless mode - or with the driving licence photo of the person in control.
Robocop could then issue a warning or fine remotely.
The robotic cop car will be fitted with cameras and wifi allowing it to be used as a remote surveillance device - or to call in back up.
And the patent reveals it can even drive itself to hunt down rogue motorists - or be used with an officer inside.
The Ford patent said: "While autonomous vehicles can and will be programmed to obey traffic laws, a human driver can override that programming to control and operate the vehicle at any time.
"When a vehicle is under control of a human driver there is a possibility of violation of traffic laws. Thus, there will still be a need to police traffic.
"An autonomous police vehicle may enforce traffic laws by identifying violators, pulling over the offending vehicle, capturing an image of the licence plate of the offending vehicle, and determining whether to issue a warning or a ticket.
“Autonomous police vehicle may be trained or otherwise programmed using machine learning tools – deep neural networks – to find good hiding spots to catch violators of traffic laws.”
The futuristic tech is still some way off but the very fact Ford has filed a patent means it's on their radar.
It mimics the sci-fi cop cars seen in Sylvester Stallone's 1993 cult classic Demolition Man - plus the iconic 80s action star Robocop.
all you need to know about driverless cars
And perhaps it's not that far into the future. In May 2017, Dubai revealed its first robot officer that patrols its shopping centres and tourist attractions.
People can use it to report crimes, pay fines and get information from its chest-mounted touchscreen.
Dubai plans to have 25 per cent of its force robotic by 2030.