The automotive industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the need for comfort and enhanced driving experience, and the growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence and Internet of Things. 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 Innovation in Automotive: Wave gearing. Buy the report here.
Smarter leaders trust GlobalData
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.
See Also:
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, resilient spoke wheels, auto-transmission lubrication circuits, and ignition switching engines are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Engine purge actuators, electro-dynamic braking, and adsorptive vapour recovery system estimation are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are collision avoidance braking control system and direct injection type engines, which are now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for the automotive industry
Wave gearing is a key innovation area in automotive
Wave gearing (also known as harmonic gearing) is a kind of mechanical gear system that utilises a flexible spline with external teeth, which is deformed by a rotating elliptical plug to involve the internal gear teeth of an outer spline.
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 10+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established automotive companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of wave gearing.
Key players in wave gearing – 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 wave gearing
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| Harmonic Drive Systems | 547 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Sumitomo Heavy Industries | 166 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Hitachi | 34 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Wittenstein | 17 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nidec | 16 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Nissan Motor | 14 | Unlock Company Profile |
| AB SKF | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Zhejiang Laifual Harmonic Drive | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Lakeview Innovation | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Denso | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| ECA Medical Instruments | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| JTEKT | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Harmonic Drive Systems is a key player in the wave gearing innovation area. The company’s wave gearing utilises a unique operating principle that is based on the elastic mechanics of metals. It offers benefits such as zero-backlash characteristics and weight and space savings compared to other gears. The size or weight of the gear does not vary with the reduction ratio. The high performance of the wave gearing is attributed to zero backlashes, high torque, compact size, excellent positional accuracy, and repeatability. Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Hitachi, and Nissan are some of the other key players.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the automotive industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Automotive.
Premium Insights
From
The gold standard of business intelligence.
Blending expert knowledge with cutting-edge technology, GlobalData’s unrivalled proprietary data will enable you to decode what’s happening in your market. You can make better informed decisions and gain a future-proof advantage over your competitors.
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.
