In-Vehicle Network Security Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
In-vehicle network security patents: who holds the CAN bus authentication claims and where the field is still open
Concentrated but not locked. the ranked leader holds 645 of 5,131 records, and the top 5 combined account for 30.9% of all records in scope — well short of a closed field. Filings rose from 486 in 2017 to a peak of 495 in 2020, then declined -23% from 425 in 2021 to 326 in 2024, the most recent year with a complete publication record. The 2025–2026 figures shown are partial and understate true filing activity for those years.
- 1PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORP OF AMERICA12.6%
- 2GEOTAB INC6.7%
- 3KDDI CORP4.3%
- 4DENSO CORP3.9%
- 5ROBERT BOSCH GMBH3.4%
See the full in vehicle network security analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Frequently asked questions
Who are the leading patent holders in in-vehicle network security?
The assignee ranking is topped by a single company with 645 of the 5,131 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 172 and the tenth at 105. The top 5 companies combined hold 30.9% of all records, and the top 10 combined hold 42.1%, which means over half the field sits with companies outside the top 10. The ranking includes 100 companies in total, spanning automakers, Tier-1 suppliers and semiconductor and telecoms firms, so no single company controls the space outright.
Is patent filing for automotive cybersecurity still growing?
Filings peaked at 495 records in 2020 and have declined since, falling from 425 in 2021 to 326 in 2024, a -23% change over that span. 2024 is the most recent year with a complete publication record; 2025 and 2026 figures in any trend chart are still filling in because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months. The honest read is a cooling filing cycle after a 2020 peak, not a technology in decline — deployment and litigation activity can continue well after filing rates slow.
What patent classes cover CAN bus message authentication?
Most records in this space are classified under H04L (digital information transmission), which appears on 59.2% of the 5,131 records, reflecting the cryptographic and messaging mechanics of message authentication codes. A large share also carry G06F (electric digital data processing, 32.0%) for the computation involved, and B60R (vehicle parts and accessories, 17.2%) where claims anchor to specific vehicle hardware. Because records can carry multiple classes, a thorough prior-art search should cover all three rather than relying on H04L alone.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on In Vehicle Network Security covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.