The automotive industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the increasing penetration of electronics into vehicle systems to make mobility safer and intelligent and enhance in-car experiences. Megatrends governing the auto industry include more connected, autonomous, shared and electric vehicles that have led to the growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, Internet of Things, robotics and cloud computing. In the last three years alone, there have been over 1.2 million patents filed and granted in the automotive industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Cybersecurity in Automotive: Vehicle relay attack prevention.
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 619,000 patents to analyse innovation intensity for the automotive industry, there are 290+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Vehicle relay attack prevention is a key innovation area in cybersecurity
Relay attacks, also referred to as the two-thief attack in computer security, are a subset of hacking methods similar to relay attacks and man-in-the-middle attacks. An attacker intercepts and modifies communications between two parties that were started by one of the parties in a traditional man-in-the-middle attack.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 50+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established automotive companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of vehicle relay attack prevention.
Key players in vehicle relay attack prevention – a disruptive innovation in the automotive industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to vehicle relay attack prevention
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Ford, with 149 patents, is one of the top companies to file for relay attack device patents. Ford recently revealed that the Fiesta and Focus cars will be the first vehicles to come equipped with a sleep mode to fend off hacking by relay car thieves. Toyota, Tokai Rika, and Tata Motor are a few other notable patent filers in the same industry.
To further understand how cybersecurity is disrupting the automotive industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Cybersecurity in Automotive.
GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
