Ford obtained 1,500 U.S. patents this year and 3,200 globally: a 25% increase compared to last year.
By obtaining 1,500 U.S. patents so far this year, Ford Motor Co. is staking a claim to the pole position in innovation, according to the company.
Ford has been granted 1,700 additional patents in other countries – bringing the total to more than 3,200 patents worldwide this year.
As of last week, Ford employees had increased the number of patent awards by 25% compared with last year. They also submitted the most patent applications in the company’s 113-year history this year. Worldwide, Ford employees have submitted 8,000 new inventions in 2016 – a 40% increase over 2015, and a 90% increase over 2014.
“We are living the innovation mindset in all parts of our business across the globe,” said Raj Nair, executive vice president, product development and chief technical officer.
“Our employees are delivering exciting new technologies for our customers at record levels. As an auto and mobility company, this is an exciting time, and our employees are aggressively advancing emerging technologies and increasing our mobility patents at record levels,” said Nair.
Among the inventions patented by Ford this year was a system for equipping autonomous vehicles with drones.
With the system, the drones can help an autonomous vehicle by mapping the surrounding area beyond what vehicle sensors can detect. Vehicle passengers can control the drone using the car’s infotainment or navigation system.
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“At Ford we are fully engaged in the current climate where inventions and out-side-the-box thinking are being produced rapidly,” said Tony Lockwood, Ford manager, virtual driver system, autonomous vehicle development, who was granted a patent for the idea along with fellow Ford employee Joe Stanek.
“Ultimately, customers benefit as we open ourselves to new ideas and advance mobility using emerging technologies.”
Other inventions, included a system that collects and then filters condensation and pumps it into a faucet located inside the car to provide drinking water. Ford introduced Carr-E, a multipurpose, electric personal transportation device developed by a German-based Ford systems engineer. In addition to carrying riders, Carr-E can transport packages and heavy objects.
As a springboard to even greater innovation, Ford worked with TechShop to open TechShop Detroit – a 33,000-square-foot workshop in Allen Park, Michigan, where tinkerers and engineers alike can develop ideas and build prototypes.
Ford recently launched a second maker space in Nanjing, China. The workshop gives employees a space to collaborate and brainstorm ideas, develop prototypes using 3D printers, 3D scanners, plastic-forming machines, electronics, app development software and more.
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In June, the Intellectual Property Owners Association had issued a report stating that or the second consecutive year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2015 had issued more patents to Toyota designers and engineers than to any other automaker.
Toyota was the only automaker listed among the top 20 on the IPOA list. Other key innovators in the top 20 include Apple, Google, IBM and Microsoft. In 2015, Toyota received 1,636 patents and in the last eight years has been awarded more patents than any other automotive company, the report noted.
Earlier this year, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s “Technology Review” also had named Toyota one of the world’s “smartest” companies, placing the automaker among respected tech leaders like Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook, and ahead of Microsoft, IBM and Intel.
At No. 17, Toyota was one of only two automakers to achieve the distinction. Tesla also made the list as did a number of suppliers, among them Mobileye, Nvidia and Bosch, that are closely aligned with carmakers.
A separate study also showed Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. invested more in R&D last year than most tech companies, such as Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T and Motorola.
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The report from the American Automotive Policy Council, the Washington-based lobby for the domestic auto industry, reported that, based on the latest data, the auto industry ranks second in global R&D spending and invested more than $20 billion in U.S. R&D in 2015. In addition, automakers and their suppliers employ nearly one out of every 10 private sector scientists and engineers in America, the AAPC said.