With investment announcements coming thick and
fast, and testing taking place on ever more roads, might
2019 be the year of the self-driving vehicle (SDV)?
A recent statistical release from the European Patent Office
(EPO) might suggest so, or at the very least suggest that momentum
is building in this important sector. In 2017, the last year in
which figures are available, the EPO saw nearly 4000 patent
applications related to self-driving vehicles – up from 922
applications in 2011.
This is a staggering 330% increase in just 6 years! To put it
into context, filing in this area has grown more than 20 times as
fast as patent applications generally at the EPO.
A dynamic new economic sector
