Autonomous Driving Technology Patent Landscape 2026
Autonomous Driving Technology Patent Landscape in 2026
Honda Motor and Toyota dominate a concentrated field where the top five filers account for 30% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output, anchored overwhelmingly in vehicle motion control and perception. Annual filing volume peaked in 2020 and has since eased, with the most recent years reflecting normal publication lag rather than confirmed retreat.
Honda and Toyota lead a two-tier competitive structure
Honda Motor Co Ltd holds the top position with 2,341 patent records, followed closely by Toyota at 2,218, Motional AD at 1,309, Waymo at 1,302, and GM Global Technology Operations at 1,220 — a tight cluster of incumbents and well-funded pure-plays that together define the field’s competitive center.
The top five filers account for 30% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, signaling meaningful but not extreme concentration. A visible tier gap separates the Honda–Toyota pair from the mid-tier challengers (Motional, Waymo, GM), and a further step down leads to a broader group of Tier-1 suppliers and semiconductor companies.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honda Motor Co Ltd | 2,341 | |
| 2 | Toyota Motor Corporation | 2,218 | |
| 3 | Motional AD LLC | 1,309 | |
| 4 | Waymo LLC | 1,302 | |
| 5 | GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 1,220 | |
| 6 | Robert Bosch GmbH | 1,109 | |
| 7 | NVIDIA Corporation | 1,057 | |
| 8 | Aurora Operations Inc | 935 | |
| 9 | Ford Global Technologies LLC | 758 | |
| 10 | Nissan Motor Co Ltd | 612 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | 605 | |
| 12 | Denso Corporation | 595 | |
| 13 | Hyundai Motor Company | 588 | |
| 14 | Yinwang Intelligent Technologies Co Ltd | 527 | |
| 15 | Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd | 492 | |
| 16 | Volkswagen AG | 483 | |
| 17 | LG Electronics Inc | 445 | |
| 18 | Qualcomm Inc | 434 | |
| 19 | Sony Group Corporation | 404 | |
| 20 | Intel Corporation | 394 |
The leaders’ positions imply deep, sustained investment in core vehicle control and autonomy stacks: any new entrant or challenger must contend with portfolios that span motion planning, perception, and systems integration built up over multiple filing cycles.
Patent records for the most recent 18–24 months are routinely under-counted due to publication lag; the apparent drop in 2024–2026 data should not be read as a real-world slowdown without corroborating evidence. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2020; vehicle control dominates the technology mix
Two charts together capture where the field has been and where technical emphasis currently sits: one traces annual filing volume from 2017 through the present, and the other maps the IPC class breakdown across the corpus.
Annual filing trend
Filings climbed from 1,641 records in 2017 to a peak of 2,920 in 2020, then stepped down to roughly 2,600 in 2021–2022, and continued easing to 2,279 in 2023. The 2024 and 2025 figures (1,424 and 677 respectively) and the near-zero 2026 count reflect publication lag and should not be treated as confirmed trend reversals.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B60W (hybrid/joint vehicle control) is the dominant class by a wide margin, reflecting the field’s core focus on motion planning and driving-policy logic. G05D (control of non-electric variables) and G06V (image/video recognition) rank second and third, underscoring the importance of perception and real-time control loops. Wireless networking (H04W), AI model computing (G06N), and traffic-system classes (G08G) are present but at meaningfully lower volumes, indicating room for deeper coverage in those adjacent branches.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Testing method for automated driving system, elect…
A testing method for an automated driving system, an electronic device and a storage medium are provided, and relate to the technical field of artificial intelligence, such as intelligent transportation and automated driving. The method includes: acquiring record data of a sensor device, the record data including a plurality of frames of data collected by… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Systems and methods for safe and reliable autonomo… | 1,021 |
| 2 | Obstacle recognition method for autonomous robots | 728 |
| 3 | Autonomous vehicle system | 647 |
| 4 | A Method and Apparatus for Collecting and Using Se… | 595 |
| 5 | Vehicle operation assistance | 525 |
| 6 | Altering autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle ope… | 501 |
| 7 | Vehicle control system with traffic driving control | 450 |
| 8 | Electronic System for Dynamic, Quasi-Realtime Meas… | 422 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity, concentration, collaboration, and geography — shape where new investment is likely to find open ground versus entrenched competition.
Post-peak field, not in freefall
The lifecycle evidence marks autonomous driving as past its 2020 peak, with annual volume easing back over successive years. This is a maturing field, not an emerging one: core vehicle-control and perception classes are densely populated, and incremental filings in those areas face a high prior-art burden. R&D teams should weigh whether differentiation is achievable in the core or whether adjacent branches offer a cleaner entry path.
Lifecycle: DeclineTop five hold 30% of the leading hundred filers’ output
Honda and Toyota together account for over 4,500 patent records between them, and the top five as a group command 30% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. That creates a two-tier structure: dominant incumbents with broad portfolios, and a mid-tier of pure-play autonomy firms (Motional, Waymo) and Tier-1 suppliers (Bosch, Nvidia) that are competitive in specific sub-domains. New entrants without a defined niche will find the core crowded.
High concentrationHyundai–Kia leads a supplier-OEM co-filing ecosystem
The most active co-filing pair is Hyundai Motor and Kia, with 357 joint records — far ahead of any other pairing. Toyota and Denso (28 joint records) and Bosch and Mercedes-Benz Group (27) represent classic OEM–supplier and OEM–Tier-1 collaboration patterns. Hyundai also co-files with Hyundai Autoever (19 records) and Asia University (16 records), indicating both internal ecosystem coordination and academic linkage. GM and Carnegie Mellon University (11 records) is the most prominent OEM–university pairing.
Supplier-OEM alliancesUnited States is the dominant filing jurisdiction
The United States leads all jurisdictions by a substantial margin, with filings there dwarfing Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) combined. The United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia represent smaller but established markets. South Korea, China, and Germany show very limited direct filing activity in this corpus, which may reflect portfolio strategy differences or the use of PCT as a first step rather than direct national filings. Teams assessing freedom to operate should prioritize the US and EPO as the highest-density venues.
US-centric filingGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Hyundai Motor Company | Kia Corporation | 357 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Denso Corporation | 28 |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | Mercedes-Benz Group AG | 27 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Hyundai Autoever Corporation | 19 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | 亚洲大学校产学协力团 | 16 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Komatsu Ltd | 12 |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | Carnegie Mellon University | 11 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Aisin Corporation | 9 |
| Hyundai Motor Company | Slek Inc | 9 |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | Cariad SE | 6 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Honda and Toyota lead; GM gaining ground while Honda retreats
The two incumbents at the top diverge in trajectory: Honda’s recent filing pace has slowed sharply while Toyota is holding steady and GM is expanding, signaling a shift in relative momentum within the incumbent tier.
Honda Motor Co Ltd
Honda leads the ranking with 2,341 patent records, concentrated in B60W 30 (vehicle control, 1,029 records), G05D 1 (autonomous control, 588), and B60W 50 (fault handling and monitoring, 584) — a portfolio spanning the full motion-planning and vehicle-control stack. Recent filing momentum is down 53% versus the prior period, suggesting a deliberate portfolio consolidation or a strategic pivot rather than continued volume growth.
patent records: 2,341GM Global Technology Operations LLC
GM ranks fifth with 1,220 patent records but carries the strongest upward momentum among the tracked incumbents, with recent filings up 30% versus the prior period. Its technical emphasis sits in G05D 1 (autonomous systems control, 437 records) and B60W 30 and B60W 50, reflecting investment in the autonomous control layer rather than solely in vehicle integration. This trajectory, combined with its co-filing relationship with Carnegie Mellon University, positions GM as the incumbent most actively expanding its autonomous driving IP footprint.
patent records: 1,220| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Honda Motor Co Ltd | 373 | ▼ -53% |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | 432 | ▲ +6% |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | 311 | ▲ +30% |
| Waymo LLC | 230 | ▼ -19% |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | 155 | ▼ -30% |
| Motional AD LLC | 204 | ▼ -35% |
| Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | 127 | ▼ -37% |
| Ford Global Technologies LLC | 53 | ▼ -51% |
Under-served branches adjacent to the autonomous driving core
Several IPC classes appear at meaningfully lower volumes relative to the dominant B60W and G05D classes, pointing to areas where coverage is thinner and technical adjacent value may exist for targeted R&D.
G06N · AI model computing
With 1,923 records against 14,456 in the dominant B60W class, G06N represents a structurally under-served branch relative to the scale of AI’s role in autonomous driving. The technical value is direct: learning-based planning, behavior prediction, and scene understanding all depend on the model architectures covered by G06N. The entry path is clearest for teams with existing machine-learning IP who can extend into automotive-specific model architectures, training pipelines, or inference optimization for embedded automotive compute.
Search this in Eureka →H04W · Wireless communication networks
H04W appears at 1,217 records — less than a tenth of the B60W volume — despite V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication being a recognized dependency for cooperative autonomy. This relative sparsity may reflect that connectivity patents are filed under different primary classes, but it also suggests that teams focused on vehicle-side communication stacks, latency-sensitive data exchange, or 5G-enabled cooperative perception have room to establish differentiated positions. Plausible entry paths include cellular V2X protocol stacks, edge-inference offloading, and real-time map-update communication.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route emphasis
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | G05D 1 · Control of non-electric variables | B60W 30 · Hybrid/joint vehicle control | B60W 50 · Hybrid/joint vehicle control | B60W 60 · Hybrid/joint vehicle control | B60W 40 · Hybrid/joint vehicle control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honda Motor Co Ltd | Strong · 588 | Strong · 1,029 | Strong · 584 | Moderate · 440 | Moderate · 369 |
| Toyota Motor Corporation | Strong · 371 | Strong · 375 | Strong · 372 | Strong · 373 | Strong · 192 |
| GM Global Technology Operations LLC | Strong · 437 | Strong · 327 | Strong · 255 | Strong · 227 | Moderate · 188 |
| Waymo LLC | Strong · 352 | Strong · 177 | Moderate · 142 | Strong · 311 | Moderate · 153 |
| Robert Bosch GmbH | Strong · 216 | Strong · 193 | Strong · 253 | Strong · 176 | Moderate · 119 |
| Motional AD LLC | Strong · 192 | Strong · 225 | Absent | Strong · 293 | Moderate · 103 |
| Denso Corporation | Absent | Strong · 196 | Strong · 192 | Strong · 163 | Strong · 109 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 18,589 patent families in autonomous driving technology, spanning the global filing record over the analysis window.
Honda Motor Co Ltd leads with 2,341 patent records, followed by Toyota at 2,218 and Motional AD at 1,309. However, Honda’s recent filing momentum is down 53% versus the prior period, while Toyota’s is up 6% and GM’s is up 30%, indicating a shifting competitive dynamic at the top.
Annual filing volume peaked in 2020 at 2,920 records, up from 1,641 in 2017. Filings have eased in subsequent years, though 2024 and 2025 figures are significantly under-counted due to patent publication lag and should not be interpreted as confirmed trend data.
The United States is by far the leading jurisdiction, with 15,270 patent records. Europe (EPO) is a distant second at 2,792, followed by WIPO (PCT) at 1,126. The UK, Canada, and Australia are smaller but established markets.
The most-cited work in the corpus is titled ‘Systems and methods for safe and reliable autonomous driving’ with 1,021 citations, followed by ‘Obstacle recognition method for autonomous robots’ at 728 citations and ‘Autonomous vehicle system’ at 647 citations. These represent the foundational references most relied upon by subsequent filings.
Relative to the dominant B60W vehicle-control class, G06N (AI model computing) and H04W (wireless communication networks) show meaningfully lower filing volumes despite high technical relevance to autonomous systems. These represent under-served adjacent branches where targeted R&D may find more open ground, though they are observations of relative sparsity rather than validated commercial opportunities.
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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.
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