Posts Tagged: "automakers"

We identified a total of 54 patented autonomous vehicle technologies in the holdings of the Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM), the largest foreign competitor among major auto manufacturers. These patents reflect practical systems helping autonomous vehicles identify roadway features. We also found 49 U.S. patents in the holdings of the Honda Motor Co. (NYSE:HMC) related to self-driving technologies, including the traffic safety systems and guidance.

The development of robust vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems are needed for the incorporation of self-driving cars on our roads and GM has been working on its own V2V systems. With 25 U.S. patents, Ford has a much smaller autonomous driving patent portfolio than GM but we managed to find some interesting technologies. Fiat Chrysler is an Italian-American company with London headquarters so it seems sort of suspect to continue considering them as part of the Big Three. In any event, the most recent patent we could find for an autonomous navigation technology was issued to FCA in 2007, showing us that there’s not much autonomous vehicle development going on at the company anyway. It is, however, interesting to note that the first-place overall in the autonomous driving R&D sector is California-based Google, which holds 145 U.S. patents in this field.

When you think about the american auto industry it’s becoming clearer every day that the idea of American-made or Japanese-made is not black and white. Increasingly, the innovative technologies going into the vehicles being sold in our country are also coming from overseas. It’s pretty telling that industry data indicates that there are no truly American-made cars being sold anymore. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2015 American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA) report shows that the cars constructed with the most American parts still had foreign parts used in at least one-quarter of the vehicle’s construction. Most of the cars that were three-quarters composed of American parts were made by General Motors Company, including the Buick Enclave, the Cadillac CTS and the Chevrolet Corvette.

Car manufacturers around the world tend to fall into either the EV or the FCV camp when assessing their developments in alternative fuel-powered vehicles. There are far more players in the electric vehicle field, which is headed up by Nissan Motor Company (TYO:7201) and Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA). In 2014, those two companies accounted for nearly 60,000 new vehicle sales, about half of all new electric vehicle sales that year. Other car makers developing electric vehicles include BMW, Ford, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen. Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) occupies the lead position among hydrogen fuel cell vehicle makers in terms of development. This January, we profiled Toyota’s decision to offer cost-free licensing of nearly 6,000 hydrogen fuel cell patents only a few months after Tesla decided to completely open source the few hundred EV patents it holds in its corporate portfolio.

One of the more active areas during this round of public comments collected by the Copyright Office involves the prohibitions against circumvention for Proposed Class 21, which covers vehicle software for diagnosis, repair or modification. John Deere also suggests that enabling these exemptions could encourage the piracy of copyrighted music or film recordings by tampering with infotainment software systems installed on vehicles. As well, modifying vehicle software to reduce the car’s maximum speed when lending it to a teenager or activate lights when the windshield wipers are turned on, both of which are suggested by John Deere, constitutes commercial activity which goes against non-profit fair use principles used to consider exemptions.

The first Chinese shipments of the S60 Inscription are not expected to be high in volume. Volvo expects to ship 1,500 units to the U.S. in 2015 and 5,000 in following years, according to remarks made by Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson this April. 2015 sales levels of the Volvo S60 base model for the luxury sedan have only reached 8,884 units through mid-June, a figure that was down 13 percent from sales figures for the same time period in 2014. This low shipment volume is also likely to temper the skepticism which is expected from American consumers who will face the prospects of the first significant Chinese vehicle on the American market.

Wireless charging systems are also being designed for use inside the car so that passengers find it easier to keep their smartphones charged over the course of a long road trip. In 2013, the Toyota Avalon was the first vehicle to offer an in-car wireless charging system for mobile devices. Similar options are also available for new Toyota Priuses, Jeep Cherokees and Dodge Darts. The majority of these in-car wireless charging systems utilize the Qi standard developed by the WPC.

Japan is not the only economic sector in Asia that has been eking out a strong niche in the global automotive sector. The 2015 Global Automotive Executive Survey released by global auditing firm KPMG reports that the Hyundai/Kia group of South Korea is the auto manufacturing business whose market share was most expected to increase by auto executives. As of 2015, the report shows that Hyundai/Kia holds the fifth-overall ranking for mass market vehicle production. The story of South Korean car makers entering the U.S. market and Korean automobiles on American roadways follows a familiar script. Consumer perceptions give way to a recognition of quality improvements and lower price tags.

Not a single American automaker was expected to increase its market share over the next five years, according to global auditing firm KPMG in its 2015 Global Automotive Executive Survey. In terms of mass-market production, only General Motors and Ford rank in the top ten of auto manufacturers from across the globe. One country whose carmakers have done a great job of stepping in and commandeering significant parts of America’s market share for autos is Japan. Nissan and Toyota are two car brands which are incredibly familiar to today’s American consumer. However, when these companies entered the American market, it was almost laughable to think that either would manage to survive, let alone succeed.

Distracted driving is a huge problem on American roads, contributing to 16 percent of all motor vehicle crashes that happened in the U.S. during 2013. With so much focus on the role of personal electronic devices like smartphones in distracted driving incidents, it’s no wonder that we would find a number of patents directed at manipulated device function within cars. U.S. Patent No. 8952800, entitled Prevention of Texting While Operating a Motor Vehicle, claims a system with multiple sensors for measuring vehicle conditions and a monitoring module that determines the state of a phone located within the vehicle and can determine that improper use of the phone was made. This patent was issued to IBM of Armonk, NY, in February.

This year we’re placing our focus on the rapid pace of development in autonomous vehicles and self-driving car technologies here on IPWatchdog. We’re still a fair ways off from the entrance of a self-driving vehicle into the consumer marketplace; some with a knowledge of the industry believe that the debut for autonomous vehicles won’t be experienced until 2020, with widespread…

Our research of General Motors’ recent patent activities using Innography’s research tools we created the text cluster diagram, which is shown left and relates to GM patent activity since January 2010. This diagram quickly allows us to identify improvements and innovations relating to the motor vehicle itself as accounting for nearly half of all GM patent acting, which the single largest focus being on innovations relating to the vehicle body. The Innography diagram also shows that GM is quite active in exploring innovations relating to control modules, electric motors and internal combustion engines.

In terms of what’s being invented by major innovators in the automotive industry, it seems that the vast majority of the increase in patenting activities among all carmakers can be attributed to propulsion systems. The number of patents issued annually for fuel propulsion has raced forward from less than 2,000 in 2009 to nearly 12,000 in 2013. No other segment of automotive technology has seen such a dramatic rise in patents over those few years.

Based on our own independent research conducted using the Innography patent analytics application, the state of American innovation in automobile manufacturing may not be as bleak as suggested by the Thompson Reuter’s study, but there is no doubt that there is a notable difference between U.S. patent holdings and international patent holdings for American automakers.

January is typically a very busy time of the year for automobile manufacturers. Car makers from all over the world have put together concept designs featuring the latest in automotive technology that is designed to steer the future of vehicles all over the world. Usually this takes place at the North American International Auto Show which happens in Detroit during…