The automotive industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by advancements in sensors, electrification, and connected and autonomous vehicles, and growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced driver assistance systems, and machine learning. In the last three years alone, there have been over 1.2 million patents filed and granted in the automotive industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Artificial intelligence in Automotive: Autonomous-manual transition handling. Buy the report here.
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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilising and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
290+ innovations will shape the automotive industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the automotive industry using innovation intensity models built on over 619,000 patents, there are 290+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, manufacturability analysis, autonomous parking, and lidar for vehicle anti-collision are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Speed profile estimation, smart light dimmers, and driver drowsiness detection are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are road slope estimation and adaptive cruise control, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for artificial intelligence in the automotive industry
Autonomous-manual transition handling is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence
A vehicle's supervisory control is carried out by the autonomous driving electronic control unit (AD-ECU) domain controller using a plethora of environmental data collected by stereo cameras, radar, and other sensors.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 100+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established automotive companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of autonomous-manual transition handling.
Key players in autonomous-manual transition handling – a disruptive innovation in the automotive industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to autonomous-manual transition handling
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Toyota currently holds 508 filed patents in the autonomous-manual transition handling segment. The company is investigating options that would allow maintaining manual transmissions while still achieving the stricter fuel economy and emissions targets of the future. Using an electronic device, conventional manual-transmission cars could coast down hills by automatically shifting into neutral. Additionally, the system would stop the driver from inadvertently changing gears that might harm the engine. Other companies innovating in the autonomous-manual transition handling innovation area include Honda, Husqvarna, and Ford.
To further understand how artificial intelligence is disrupting the automotive industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Automotive.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
