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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/automated-guided-vehicle-system-integration-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Robotics & Automation · Patent LandscapeAutomated Guided Vehicle System Integration Patents: Who Files and Where the Field Stalled
- Filing peaked in 2017 at 7 records and has since gone flat, with 2022 sitting at zero — a filing curve that front-loaded early and did not sustain, unusual for a still-active integration niche.
- Control-systems IPC classes G05B and G05D dominate each carrying 14 of the 26 records, meaning the core claim territory is guidance and control logic, not the business-process layer.
- The most-cited record is an aircraft-assembly application, not a warehouse one US9817402B1 leads citations at 22, signalling that aerospace factory automation shaped this niche's foundational claims.
26
Published Records
EP
Leading Jurisdiction
11
Active Filers Ranked
2017
Peak Filing Year
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this patent set covers
This landscape covers patents at the intersection of automated guided vehicles and the software layer that connects them to a plant or warehouse — WMS, MES and fleet-management integration claims filed alongside AGV or guided-vehicle terminology. The scope is deliberately narrow: it excludes general AGV hardware and general warehouse-management software, keeping only the records that claim the integration point between the two.
Twenty-six patent families meet that definition across the 2015–2026 window, drawn from a mix of aerospace, industrial-robotics and logistics filers. The IPC composition and the citation pattern both point to a field whose foundational claims come from factory-floor and aircraft-assembly automation rather than from warehouse-software vendors.
Filing activity and technology composition, 2015–2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The data
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 26-family dataset: filings by year, and the IPC subclasses those filings sit in. Read together, they show a field that filed early, concentrated in control-systems classifications, and has not generated a fresh filing wave since.
Filing trend: an early peak that did not repeat
Filings ran to 7 in 2017, the peak of the window, then fell back. The 2022 midpoint sits at zero, and the curve stays flat to the 2026 cut-off — remembering that the most recent one to two years are always undercounted because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months.
IPC composition: control logic outweighs business-process claims
G05B (control and regulating systems) and G05D (control of non-electric variables) each hold 14 of the 26 records — the guidance and control layer, not the ERP/WMS layer, is where most claim density sits. G06Q (business-process data handling) trails at 6, and B25J (manipulators/robots) and B64F (aircraft ground installations) each hold 5, confirming aerospace assembly as a real sub-thread rather than a rounding error.
Shares are the percentage of the 26 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
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The records other filers cite
Representative record
US9839986B2 — Performing surface treatments using an automated guided vehicle
THE BOEING COMPANY
A low-profile, automated guided vehicle (AGV) performs surface treatments over large areas of a structure having limited access, such as an aircraft underbelly. The AGV includes a movable gantry provided with automated robot. The robot has interchangeable end effectors for carrying out the surface treatments. Travel of the AGV relative to structure is controlled by a ground guidance system.Filed by The Boeing Company, published 2017-12-12.
Most-cited records in this dataset
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US9817402B1 | Application of factory automation for an airline assembly and build process | 22 |
| 2 | US10860026B2 | Mobile robotic system for guiding an automated vehicle along a reconfigurable path and method thereof | 18 |
| 3 | US20160378116A1 | Mobile Robotic System | 15 |
| 4 | US9839986B2 | Performing surface treatments using an automated guided vehicle | 10 |
| 5 | US20190004521A1 | Mobile Robotic System for Guiding an Automated Vehicle Along a Reconfigurable Path and Method Thereof | 8 |
| 6 | EP3076255A1 | Automated dynamic manufacturing systems and related methods | 5 |
| 7 | US9862096B2 | Automated dynamic manufacturing systems and related methods | 4 |
| 8 | EP3367195A1 | Identifying a pathway for condition of assembly validation | 3 |
| 9 | EP3270246A1 | Application of factory automation for an airline assembly and build process | 3 |
| 10 | CN111731211A | 一种用于AGV车的4G通讯系统自动侧向抱紧控制装置 | 2 |
Citation counts are drawn from a searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of influence on later drafting, not of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the numbers say about this field
Three findings shape how to read this dataset: where the claim density actually sits, what the citation leaders reveal, and what the flat recent-year trend does and does not mean.
Filing pattern
7 in 2017 → 0 by 2022
peak-to-flat
A single early peak, not a growth curve
Filing activity concentrated in 2017 and has not returned to that level since, with the midpoint year showing zero records. That is not typical of a technology still attracting fresh investment; it looks more like a niche that a small group of filers staked out early and then largely left alone.
Read the trend chart alongside the 18-month publication lag before concluding the field is dead.
Claim territory
28 of 26 IPC hits in G05B/G05D
control-layer concentration
Control and guidance logic, not the software stack, is the crowded layer
G05B and G05D together account for more IPC hits than any other classification combined, meaning the guidance and control-system claims are where prior art is densest. Business-process integration claims under G06Q are comparatively thin at 6 records.
Filing density here means claim space is occupied — not that the underlying technology is finished or optimal.
Citation leader
US9817402B1 · 22 citations
top-cited record
Aerospace assembly automation anchors the citation graph
The most-cited record in the set describes factory automation for airline assembly and build, not a warehouse-floor AGV. Three of the five most-cited records trace back to aerospace or aircraft-ground-installation filings, which is a strong hint about where the earliest, most foundational claims in this niche actually originated.
Citation counts favour older records; use them to trace lineage, not to rank current relevance.
Jurisdiction spread
EPO 8 · US 8 · China 4
receiving offices
Filing is split evenly between Europe and the US, with China a distant third
Europe and the United States each account for 8 of the tracked filings, roughly matched, while China sits at 4 and the remaining offices (AT, Canada, WIPO/PCT) are single-digit. That spread suggests this integration niche has not yet become a China-first filing category the way many adjacent robotics fields have.
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Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to automated guided vehicle system integration, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who holds the ground, and where it is still open
The assignee list runs long and thin: aerospace, industrial-machinery and niche automation firms each hold a handful of families, with no single filer showing sustained recent-year momentum in this specific integration niche.
Aerospace anchor
Top-cited assignee
citation influence
The Boeing Company
Boeing's factory-automation and surface-treatment AGV filings anchor the citation graph for this dataset, including the single most-cited record in the set. Its claims sit closer to aircraft-assembly ground automation than to warehouse or plant-floor system integration.
0 filings in the latest tracked year — activity has not continued at the earlier pace.
Recent entrant
-100% YoY
momentum
Apptronik Inc
Apptronik shows recent-year activity in this space but posts a -100% year-on-year change into the latest period, consistent with a single-filing entrant rather than a sustained program.
Worth tracking for a second filing, not yet a concentration risk.
Industrial machinery filer
0 in latest year
momentum
SICK AG
SICK's guidance-sensor pedigree makes it a natural filer in AGV control-system integration, but its tracked activity in this dataset shows no filings in the most recent year, matching the broader flat trend.
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Materials-handling specialist
0 in latest year
momentum
Jervis B. Webb International Company
A long-established materials-handling and conveyor-systems name, its presence in this set reflects the fleet-management integration angle rather than core vehicle hardware, though it too shows no recent-year filing.
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Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| APPTRONIK INC | 0 | -100% |
| Magna Powertrain (Jiangxi) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| SICK AG | 0 | — |
| Zhejiang Rasbeam Catering Equipment Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Jervis B. Webb International Company | 0 | — |
| Jike Development Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Kunshan Shenghezhi Industrial Equipment Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset raises three practical questions for a team deciding whether to file, license, or design around in this space.
Test freedom-to-operate against the control-layer claims
With G05B and G05D carrying more than half the IPC hits, any new AGV integration filing should be checked against the guidance and control-system claim set first, not the business-process layer.
Run a freedom-to-operate check →Watch for a second filing wave before it appears in headlines
The 18-month publication lag means 2025–2026 activity is still arriving. A flat recent trend today can look different once the backlog clears.
Track filing momentum →Draft around the aerospace-assembly precedent, not just warehouse AGV art
Because the top-cited record comes from aircraft-assembly automation, drafting teams focused only on warehouse-floor prior art risk missing the claims that actually anchor this niche.
Explore the citation lineage →Source: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about AGV system integration patents
In this landscape, it means a patent that claims both an automated guided vehicle (or guided-vehicle terminology) and an explicit integration point with warehouse-management, manufacturing-execution or fleet-management software. General AGV hardware patents and general warehouse-software patents are excluded unless the claims tie the two together. That combination is what keeps this dataset to 26 patent families rather than the much larger set of AGV patents overall.
The dataset shows filing activity reaching 7 records in 2017 and falling to zero by the 2022 midpoint, staying flat through to the 2026 cut-off. This pattern is consistent with a small group of early filers — several from aerospace and industrial-automation backgrounds — staking out core control-layer claims early and not returning with follow-on filings. It's also worth remembering that publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so the very last one to two years in any trend chart will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be.
The Boeing Company holds the single most-cited record in this dataset, an aerospace factory-automation patent cited 22 times, reflecting its early work on aircraft-assembly ground guidance systems. Beyond that, the assignee list is long and thin, including industrial-sensor and materials-handling names such as SICK AG and Jervis B. Webb International, none of which show sustained recent-year filing momentum. No single company dominates the current filing count the way citation leadership might suggest.
The control layer is significantly more crowded. IPC classes G05B (control and regulating systems) and G05D (control of non-electric variables) each account for 14 of the 26 records, while G06Q, the classification covering business-process data handling, holds only 6. Anyone drafting new claims around WMS or MES integration logic should expect denser prior art on the vehicle-guidance side than on the enterprise-software side.
Based on the IPC and citation composition, the thinner branches sit around multi-vendor fleet interoperability, MES-triggered exception handling for guided vehicles, and coordination logic for mixed human-AGV floor environments — areas adjacent to the dense control-layer claims but not directly occupied by them. These are not guaranteed-clear spaces, but the filing density in this dataset is markedly lower there than in core guidance-and-control claims, which is where a first, narrowly drafted claim has the best chance of standing apart from existing art.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Automated Guided Vehicle System Integration covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.