Ford has signed up 1,442 patents this year, the majority of among the largest car manufacturers, consisting of one for a self-driving vehicle that has its own drone.
Based upon information assembled by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Toyota was granted 1,368 so far this year, followed by General Motors at 1,131 and Honda at 1,011. Ford had 25% more patents than in 2015.
Raj Nair, executive vice president, Product Development, and chief technical officer (CTO), associated the boost to the push to establish more semi- and fully self-driving innovations as Ford and its rivals place themselves for shared-vehicle mobility.
“We are living the innovation mind-set in all parts of our service around the world,” Nair stated. “Our staff members are providing interesting new innovations for our clients at record levels.”
The automaker was given 1,700 more patents in other nations, bringing the total to over 3,100 patents granted globally this year.
