Top patent owners: patent activity
Despite China's impressive rise in land transport technologies in recent years, the top patent holders still come mainly from Japan, Germany and the United States (Figure A15). Six of the top 10 patent holders are Japanese (Toyota Motor (1st), Denso (2nd), Honda Motor (3rd), Panasonic Holdings (4th), Nissan (6th) and Hitachi (8th)), two are from Germany (Bosch (5th) and Volkswagen (7th)) and two from the United States (Ford Motor (9th) and General Motors (10th)). Hyundai Motors is the first Republic of Korea company in 11th place, while the first Chinese company, State Grid Corp of China, only appears in 18th place. US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has developed and published 347 patent families since 2000. As a result, the company is not among the top 25 patent owners, but ranked at 203rd.
It is notable that Toyota Motor has by far the largest patent portfolio in land transport technologies with more than 37,000 patent family publications between 2000 and 2023. This is more than twice as many patent family publications as Denso in second place. Another observation is that, unlike in the other transport modalities, there are no universities or research institutes in the list of the top 25 patent owners.
Tesla and BYD, major players in the electric vehicle (EV) market, have both developed extensive patent portfolios, but their approach appears to differ significantly.
Tesla made headlines in 2014 when Elon Musk introduced the "All our patent are belong to you" initiative, announcing that the company would open-source its patents.
Over the past five years, BYD has increased its patent holdings by 72%, reaching approximately 15 times the number of active patents held by Tesla. Most of BYD's patents are, however, concentrated within China, with 82% only active in the domestic market and just 7% active in the United States. In contrast, Tesla’s patents are distributed more globally, with over half active in multiple markets and 31% specifically active in China.
Tesla’s IP strategy includes its 2014 "Patent pledge," which allows third parties to use Tesla patents under specific conditions. This approach aims to reduce litigation risks, while promoting broader EV adoption. Despite this pledge, Tesla has continued to file patents extensively, particularly in areas such as EV technology, batteries and autonomous driving.
BYD’s patent growth may be influenced by domestic policies, including subsidies for filings, which have encouraged high volumes of patents within China. The differences in Tesla and BYD’s patent activities reflect broader trends within the EV industry, highlighting evolving strategies in the use of patents, and IP more generally.
Top patent owners: patent growth
Patenting activity in land transport technologies has grown dynamically over the last decades (Figure A16). A majority of top patent owners have increased their patent family publications over the whole period analyzed from 2000 to 2023, with very strong growth coming especially from companies in the Republic of Korea such as Kia and Hyundai. On the other hand, there are some large Japanese companies such as Panasonic, Nissan and Aisin, that published fewer patent families in 2023 than in 2000. It should be noted, however, that the growth picture is more mixed from 2020 onward. While Chinese and Republic of Korea companies, such as State Grid Corp of China and Hyundai, as well as certain Western companies, such as BMW and General Motors, have continued to expand patenting in recent years, many of the other top patent owners from Japan, Europe and the United States have shown a downward trend in annual patent family publications.
Top patent owners: research priorities
The research priorities of top patent owners show that large carmakers such as Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen have their main research focus on the development of Sustainable Propulsion technologies (Figure A17). The research priorities of top patent owners show that large carmakers such as Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen have their main research focus on the development of Sustainable Propulsion technologies (Figure A17). But at the same time have also developed many patent families in Communication and Security technologies.
Most automotive suppliers, such as Denso, Continental and Samsung, on the other hand, have developed most of their patent families in Communication and Security technologies. An exception is Bosch, which has developed roughly the same number of patent families in each of these two technologies.
Automation and Circularity technologies is another relevant research area for most top patent owners. Hitachi, State Grid Corp of China and Sony have a particularly high proportion of patent families within this particular technology trend.
Human–Machine Interface (HMI) technologies play a particularly important role for the research priorities of certain automotive suppliers such as Denso, Sony, Samsung Electronics and Aisin. However, there are also some car manufacturers with a large share of HMI patent families such as Volkswagen.
In absolute terms, Toyota Motors has developed and published the largest number of patent families in all four technology trends (Figure A18). Toyota's lead is particularly large in Sustainable Propulsion, where Toyota has published more than 26,000 patent families since 2000 – almost three times as many as Panasonic Holdings (9,491) in second place. One explanation for Toyota's significant lead in patenting activity is its strategic approach to developing both electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs), coupled with in-house battery production.
In Communication and Security technologies, Toyota Motor's lead is smaller, with 10,750 patent families, ahead of Japanese automotive supplier Denso in second place (8,204).
In Automation and Circularity technologies, Toyota Motor, Bosch, Hitachi and Honda Motors are the technology leaders.
In HMI technologies, Denso, Toyota Motor and Volkswagen have developed the largest number of patent families.
