The Sensor: Are Patent Wars Coming For Autonomous Vehicles

Are Patent Wars Coming for Autonomous Vehicles?

Patents are often at the heart of high-stakes litigation. While there is some debate as to what began the smartphone patent wars, Nokia suing Apple in 2009 is thought to have signaled the beginning of the era which has continued to the present day. For example, in May 2018, after seven years of litigation, Apple was awarded $539M in damages from Samsung. On June 27, 2018, Samsung and Apple agreed to a settlement, ending the seven year battle but many others are still ongoing. Will this trend take hold with autonomous vehicle technology? Given the wave of wireless technology making its way to the automotive/mobility space, and the litigious bent of some owners of the technology, onlookers in the automotive space worry that patent wars in the autonomous vehicle (AV) space may be inevitable. At the recent Auto IP USA event in Detroit, experts from across the automotive industry and beyond discussed collaboration and