The automotive industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by integration of real-time monitoring, and growing importance of technologies such as sensors, artificial intelligence, 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 Internet of Things in Automotive: Continuous position tracking.
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, acoustic vehicle signalling devices, autonomous parking, and brake pedal sensors are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Vehicle head up displays (HUDs), smart light dimmers, and automatic actuated vehicle doors are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are road slope estimation and V2V distance monitoring, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for IoT in the automotive industry
Continuous position tracking is a key innovation area in IoT
A continuous position tracking system is an electronic device installed in an automobile to track the automobile’s location. The system works using GPS and GSM modules to track the exact and accurate position of the vehicle at any location. The device is also equipped with a display to show the current location of the vehicle to the user.
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 90+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established automotive companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of continuous position tracking.
Key players in continuous position tracking – 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 continuous position tracking
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2021) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Qualcomm | 1061 | Unlock company profile |
| Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson | 207 | Unlock company profile |
| Huawei Investment Holding | 181 | Unlock company profile |
| Apple | 153 | Unlock company profile |
| Intel | 116 | Unlock company profile |
| Sony Group | 86 | Unlock company profile |
| FedEx | 85 | Unlock company profile |
| Nokia | 83 | Unlock company profile |
| LG | 76 | Unlock company profile |
| Samsung Group | 75 | Unlock company profile |
| Microsoft | 57 | Unlock company profile |
| ZTE | 54 | Unlock company profile |
| NETGEAR | 43 | Unlock company profile |
| Rivada Research | 39 | Unlock company profile |
| Tile | 34 | Unlock company profile |
| NextNav | 32 | Unlock company profile |
| Extreme Networks | 31 | Unlock company profile |
| Telefon Lm Ericsson | 31 | Unlock company profile |
| Apogee Technology | 31 | Unlock company profile |
| Alphabet | 28 | Unlock company profile |
| Humatics | 27 | Unlock company profile |
| Golba | 25 | Unlock company profile |
| Johnson Controls International | 24 | Unlock company profile |
| Liberty Broadband | 24 | Unlock company profile |
| Deutsche Telekom | 22 | Unlock company profile |
| International Business Machines | 21 | Unlock company profile |
| Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | 20 | Unlock company profile |
| Siemens Building Technologies | 19 | Unlock company profile |
| Safran | 19 | Unlock company profile |
| BlackBerry | 18 | Unlock company profile |
| GuangDong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications | 17 | Unlock company profile |
| Polaris Wireless | 16 | Unlock company profile |
| Estimote | 16 | Unlock company profile |
| Accenture | 16 | Unlock company profile |
| True Ventures | 15 | Unlock company profile |
| Denso | 14 | Unlock company profile |
| Ossia | 14 | Unlock company profile |
| Mapsted | 14 | Unlock company profile |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation | 14 | Unlock company profile |
| Digimarc | 14 | Unlock company profile |
| Datang Telecom Technology | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| Kroger | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| Otodata Wireless Network | 13 | Unlock company profile |
| Broadcom | 12 | Unlock company profile |
| Ocado Group | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| SoftBank Group | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| Dean & Company | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| Sensewhere | 11 | Unlock company profile |
| Honeywell International | 10 | Unlock company profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Qualcomm provides automakers with a comprehensive 3D navigation solution, which combines multi-constellation GNSS precise positioning. It currently holds 1,061 filed patents in the continuous position tracking segment. Other innovators in the continuous position tracking innovation area are Golba, Apple, and Denso.
To further understand how IoT is disrupting the automotive industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Internet of Things (IoT) 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.
