Ford Designed A Cyber Shelter For Its Millennium Falcon Pickup
Campers will flip for this. Ford has filed for a patent on a device that turns a pickup truck into an RV.
The “Shelter System Having Deployable Platform” is a bed-mounted system that flips forward over the roof of a pickup to create a triangular tent.
There’s a platform for a bed that extends over the hood and is secured with cables attached to mounts on the front fenders, while the rear portion covers the bed to create a covered space that’s high enough for someone to stand up in.
When stowed, the tent creates a fastback shape that makes the vehicle in the sketches look very similar to a Tesla Cybertruck.
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The patent describes the vehicle depicted as “electrified” with or without an internal combustion engine. This would presumably allow the occupants to keep the power and HVAC on without worrying about exhaust fumes, although the tent is shown with windows.
It also says the truck uses unibody construction. The Ford Maverick is designed that way, but the truck in the images doesn’t look like any model the brand currently offers.
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It has a sloping hood like a Cybertruck’s, instead of a flat one, which could help reduce the aerodynamic drag to improve its driving range.
Ford currently has two electric pickups in the works. There’s a small Maverick-sized one that’s slated to go on sale in 2027 and a full-size successor to the F-150 Lightning that’s known internally as the T3 and has been pushed off to a 2028 launch.
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Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the T3 looks “like the Millennium Falcon with a back porch attached,” and the tent system definitely makes the bed useful for people, not just cargo.
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Automakers often file patents on ideas that they do not intend to put into production, so there are no guarantees Ford will ever sell anything like this shelter, but it does open a window into what the company is thinking about as it develops its future electric trucks.