When we hear talk of the most innovative car company, Tesla Motors often comes to mind. After all, the 18-year-old U.S. electric car manufacturer produces high-tech vehicles with 17-inch dashboard touchscreens, sensor-based driver-assistance features, an industry-leading battery platform, and eye-popping acceleration.
But by the standard measure of innovation — number of patents — Tesla doesn’t even come close to the industry leaders.
One estimate by British intellectual property firm Venner Shipley put the number of “Tesla Inc.” or “Tesla Motors” patent applications at about 900 from 2006 to 2020. Tesla’s website lists 361 patents that are currently used in its vehicles (not all patents end up being applied to final products). Compare that to Ferrari, which added more than 1,200 patents in the past decade for autonomous-driving technology alone.
Thanks to their size and scalability, global automotive manufacturers are by far the leaders in vehicle innovation, and the number of patents they’re filing has been growing over the past decade as they focus on developing driverless and electric-vehicle technologies.
Led by Toyota, the top 10 most innovative vehicle manufacturers have filed 1.25 million patents since 2011. Big names including Volkswagen, Honda, and Ford each submit well over 100,000 patent filings annually. (See where these and other companies rank on this list of new car brands ranked from best to worst.)
Not all of these patents are related to self-driving and electric cars, of course. Automakers are constantly making improvements to the existing technology in their large inventory of models and vehicle types, while also focusing on patents for the cars of tomorrow, which helps explain why they file so many intellectual property claims. (For a contrasting look into the automotive past, see these 37 amazing-looking cars from bygone times.)
Click here to see the world’s most innovative car companies.
To develop a list of the most innovative car companies, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a recent analysis of Google Patents data by the British car dealership network Bristol Street Motors. The research focused on 17 major car brands, revealing the number of cumulative patents, automotive patents, electric vehicle-related patents, and patents related to autonomous driving technology over the past decade (2011-2020). Numbers for all patent types are not available for all 17 brands. Car makers are listed alphabetically.
Source: Brian Ach / Getty Images
Audi
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 59,966 — 8th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -94.5% — from 7,306 in ’18 to 403 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 16,730 — 7th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 2,742 — 6th out of 10
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Source: vesilvio / Getty Images
BMW
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 74,594 — 7th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 16,058 — 8th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
Source: PavloBaliukh / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Ferrari
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -94.8% — from 1,105 in ’18 to 58 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 1,327 — 10th out of 10
Source: gopixa / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Ford
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 167,874 — 3rd out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 59,972 — 2nd out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 14,354 — 1 out of 10
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Source: RiverNorthPhotography / Getty Images
Honda
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 165,441 — 4th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -90.8% — from 17,182 in ’18 to 1,589 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 48,221 — 6th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 3,995 — 3 out of 10
Source: tomeng / Getty Images
Hyundai
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 184,076 — 2th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -99.0% — from 17,581 in ’18 to 179 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 55,396 — 3rd out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 3,871 — 5 out of 10
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Source: tomeng / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
Land Rover
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 1,728 — 8th out of 10
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Source: josefkubes / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Mazda (Toyota)
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -90.8% — from 4,201 in ’18 to 386 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
Source: THEPALMER / Getty Images
Mercedes-Benz
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 44,787 — 9th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 9,845 — 9th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
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Source: eyewave / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Nissan
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 149,078 — 5th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 50,572 — 4th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 2,304 — 7 out of 10
Source: huettenhoelscher / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Peugeot
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 44,680 — 10th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -90.4% — from 1,365 in ’18 to 131 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
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Source: andreafidone / Getty Images
Porsche (Volkswagen)
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -94.8% — from 2,994 in ’18 to 157 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
Source: josefkubes / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Renault
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -99.5% — from 2,897 in ’18 to 14 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 9,596 — 10th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
Source: tomeng / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
Subaru
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -92.9% — from 2,625 in ’18 to 187 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: Not available
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Source: Tim Boyle / Getty Images
Toyota
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 384,349 — 1st out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: -92.9% — from 49,292 in ’18 to 3,491 in ’20
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 126,155 — 1st out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 12,821 — 2nd out of 10
Source: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Volkswagen
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: 143,194 — 6th out of 10
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: 48,421 — 5th out of 10
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 3,966 — 4th out of 10
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Source: Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Volvo
> Cumulative patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Chg. in auto patent-filing: Not available
> Total EV patents filed since 2011: Not available
> Autonomous tech patents filed since 2011: 1,555 — 9th out of 10
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