Korea's share of major markets by applicant nationality is only 7.1%.
Strength only in automotive condition monitoring system technology that utilizes wireless communication.

It was revealed that Korea's overseas patent application rate, which can be considered a barometer of the competitiveness of autonomous vehicle technology, is very low.

According to the Korea Intellectual Property Strategy Institute (KISTA), Japan, the United States, and Germany, the leading countries in autonomous vehicle development, averaged 41.8% of the market, while Korea's market share was only 7.9%. This is believed to be due to Korea's still early stages of autonomous vehicle development, and its insufficient technological capabilities targeting overseas markets.

The overall number of patent applications related to autonomous vehicles has been rapidly increasing since 2002, driven by the increase in autonomous vehicle concept cars and R&D development plans. Patent applications are primarily concentrated in the US and Japan. While Japan's patent applications are primarily driven by a small number of automakers, the US's applicants are diverse, encompassing a number of component manufacturers, internet companies, and automakers.

As development issues in the ICT field increase, the number of new market entrants has increased, leading to a sharp increase in self-driving car patent applications since 2013. During this period, the United States filed 12,800 patents (38.5%), Japan 10,367 patents (31.2%), Korea 6,569 patents (19.8%), and Europe 3,496 patents (10.5%).


▲ Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors announced their connected car development concept in April and named it the ‘Hyper-connected and Intelligent Car.’

Korean applicants ranked third in patent share, but fourth overall in key market penetration. By applicant nationality, Japan led the way with 38.5%, followed by the United States at 21.6%, Korea at 19.4%, Germany at 10.2%, and France at 1.9%. However, a closer look at the key market penetration rates of applicants by nationality reveals a marked drop in Korean applicants. Korea ranked fourth in key market penetration at 7.1%, following Japan (42.5%), the United States (19.5%), and Germany (18.2%).

Japan, with its active market penetration rate, has approximately half of its patent applications filed in major overseas countries. This suggests that Japanese applicants are focusing on technology development aimed at overseas markets rather than the domestic market.

The top 10 companies account for 29.8% of applications.

The autonomous vehicle industry, led by major leading countries, is leading the way in technological prowess, with the top 10 companies accounting for 29.8% of applications. Toyota (1st), Honda (4th), and Nissan (5th) have seen recent declines in their patent application rates due to declining R&D spending. However, Denso (2nd) and Hyundai Motor Company (3rd) have recently seen increases in their patent application rates as they explore new R&D areas. With GM (9th) and Ford (10th) entering the top 10, an increase in patent applications is expected.

Looking at the development trends of major companies, Toyota primarily applied for patents in sensing systems (17.7%), accident prevention/avoidance systems (15.5%), and actuating systems (13.7%). Its recently filed patent in the sensing system field, "Unusual Driving Section Detection Device and Unusual Driving Detection Method (JP2015-138316)," describes technology that obtains information about unusual driving points on the road using sensors and detects driving information.


▲ Patent share by nationality of applicants for self-driving car-related patents (left) and key market acquisition rate by nationality of applicants

DENSO also focuses its patents on sensing systems (17.8%), accident prevention/avoidance systems (11.4%), and HMI systems (14.3%). For example, the patent for "System for Applying Smart Devices to Vehicles" in the HMI system field describes a vehicle interface control device that controls the vehicle interface to connect to the smart device's communication system and perform its functions.

Hyundai Motor Company holds many patents in areas such as accident prevention/avoidance systems (13.3%), driver assistance systems (13%), and HMI systems (13%). The patent for vehicle control system and autonomous driving method (KR1567207) describes technology that enables a lane-keeping device to control steering based on lane information and control vehicle attitude based on driving conditions. The patent for vehicle information display device and display method (KR1646340) describes technology that displays the vehicle's driving speed and the distance from the preceding vehicle in an augmented reality display area of a front display device.

We are far behind in sensing system and passive safety system technology.

Korea is leading the way in automotive condition monitoring systems, leveraging its wireless communications capabilities, and in electrical and electronic architecture technology. Conversely, Japan focuses on driver assistance systems and passive safety systems, while the United States excels in automotive SoC technology, actuation systems, HMI systems, and autonomous driving systems.

Furthermore, Korea is lagging significantly behind leading countries in the application of sensing systems and passive safety systems. Most of the detailed technologies in these fields are being developed by Japanese automakers, who are focusing on developing autonomous vehicles. “This patent analysis shows that in Korea, there are more applications for vehicle driving-based technologies for safety than for technologies specialized for autonomous vehicles,” said Lee In-hee, a senior researcher at the Korea Intellectual Property Strategy Institute.

▲ On the 2nd, Choi Jeong-ho, 2nd Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visited Seoul National University's Intelligent Vehicle Research Center and test-drove a self-driving car.

In line with the rise in smartphone penetration, Korea is also seeing a surge in technological development for incorporating mobile systems into vehicles. While leading countries, such as the US, averaged 9.88 citations, Korea's average was only 3.35. The technological gap between Korea and other countries in automotive embedded technology and vehicle condition monitoring systems is significant.

Senior Researcher Lee In-hee said, “As revealed in the patent analysis, major domestic applicants are actively filing domestically, but their overseas filings are minimal,” and added, “Since it is expected that autonomous vehicles will be commercialized overseas before domestically due to national policy, we should actively pursue overseas filings.”