This dataset identifies 1,285 published patent families matching search terms specific to vehicle software update mechanisms, including electronic control unit updates, delta updates, rollback protection, dual bank flash, signature verification and diagnostic sessions, covering 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off. That figure is scoped to a specific technical search string, not to ‘connected vehicle’ patents broadly, so a differently worded search would return a different total. Because publication lags actual filing by roughly 18 months, the true number of filings made in 2025 and 2026 is still understated in current published data.

The ranked list covers 100 companies spanning automakers, tier-one suppliers and dedicated vehicle-security vendors. The leader holds 111 records, and filing concentration drops steeply through the top five (which together hold 33.6% of all 1,285 records) before flattening out — fifth place holds 60 records and tenth place holds 26. More than half of all records sit outside the top 10 filers, indicating a genuinely fragmented rest of the field rather than a two-tier market.

Filing rose from 111 records in 2017 to a peak of 146 in 2021, then eased to 119 by 2024 — an 18% decline over that three-year span, which is the most recent period that can be read as a complete trend. Years after 2024 show lower counts, but that reflects publication lag rather than an actual drop in filing, since a filing made today typically is not published for about 18 months. Treating the 2021 peak as a ceiling and the 2024 figure as the more reliable current baseline is the safer read of this trend.