The dataset's most-cited record is a solid-state LIDAR circuit patent with 173 citations, filed well before the 2020 filing peak, alongside related filings from the same lineage that also rank highly. Beyond citation counts, the assignee ranking includes a mix of automotive OEMs like GM, Tier 1 suppliers such as Continental and Visteon, and pure-play sensor and semiconductor firms including Ouster and Intel. No single assignee dominates the full 37-family set, so a freedom-to-operate review needs to check both the automotive-integration filers and the component-level specialists.

Based on this dataset, no — filings peaked at 6 in 2020 and held at that level through the 2022 midpoint rather than climbing further. The apparent drop toward 2026 should be read cautiously because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the newest work is undercounted. Even accounting for that lag, the shape is a plateau rather than an accelerating land grab, which changes how aggressively a new entrant needs to file to hold ground.

The United States dominates this dataset with 26 of 37 records, compared with 5 at the European Patent Office, 3 in China and 3 filed via the PCT route. That skew means US claims carry the highest freedom-to-operate risk for most companies, though the smaller China and EPO filing counts likely understate activity given how recent and regionally concentrated some entrants are. Anyone planning a China market entry should treat the thin domestic filing base as an opening rather than a settled position.

Relative to the dense core claims around scanning mechanisms and detection range, areas such as eye-safety power modulation, adaptive point cloud density control, and discrete polarization-based scanning show thinner coverage in this dataset. The IPC composition also shows a long tail of single-digit subclasses — including G05D control systems and H01S laser sources — suggesting component-level innovation is still fragmented rather than consolidated under a few dominant filers. These pockets are worth checking closely before assuming the space is fully occupied.

US11698445B2 claims a vehicle LiDAR system built around a discrete scanning mechanism using a quarter wave plate and a deflection stage that selects the rotation direction of a circularly polarized beam, rather than a continuously rotating or MEMS-mirror-driven scan. Granted in 2023 to GM Global Technology Operations, its claims are narrower to that polarization-selection approach rather than to LiDAR scanning broadly. Anyone designing a discrete or polarization-controlled scanning mechanism should read the full claim set closely, but continuously scanning or MEMS-based designs sit outside its core mechanism claims.