Your next Ford might double as a working desk
Ford has patented a mount that transforms the steering wheel into a tray. Lunch, laptop, paperwork — all without leaving the cabin.
Ford is once again chasing an idea few would dare to commit to paper. The company has filed a US patent application that turns the steering wheel into a genuine dining — and working — table. The document landed at the patent office back on July 29, 2024, was published on June 2, 2026, and received serial number 12643451.
The idea didn’t come out of nowhere. The European Ford Transit Custom has had this trick for a few years now: fold the wheel upward, drop a flat surface on top, and you have a full-fledged table. Want lunch? Sure. Want to open a laptop? Go ahead. Want to write by hand like it’s the last century? Be our guest. Van drivers are absolutely sold on it.
The new patent pushes things further. Ford describes a mounting device fixed directly to the steering wheel — a dedicated tray slides into it. The wheel then tilts backward and becomes the support. The result is a proper workstation inside the cabin — no retrofitting, no extra gadgets.
And this isn’t Ford’s first attempt. The company has previously patented a steering wheel with a “non-driving” position, an in-car tray, and a pull-out wheel-mounted desk. In other words, this is no one-off curiosity — it’s a systematic line of research.
Submitting patent applications is a normal part of any strong business as the process protects new ideas and helps us build a robust portfolio of intellectual property. The ideas described within a patent application should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans, Ford emphasizes.
Still, don’t write it off. In the commercial van and small-business vehicle segment, this kind of solution lands instantly — the cabin has become a second office for plenty of drivers. And if fully autonomous cars ever hit the road in earnest, a working steering wheel-cum-table will stop looking like a footnote in a patent database.