Innovation Timeline
Automotive & EV
From the internal combustion engine to electric drivetrains, regenerative braking, and autonomous driving systems.
Landmark patents
144
Total citations
4,202
Span
1844 – 2026
Milestones
29
1860s
How Elisha Otis Invented the Modern Safety Elevator
An 1861 patent by Elisha Otis describing a mechanism to prevent elevators from falling if their support cables snap.
6 citations
How the Gatling Gun's Rotating Barrel Mechanism Works
Richard Gatling's 1862 patent for a multi-barrel firearm that used a hand-cranked rotating mechanism to fire bullets in rapid succession.
7 citations
George Westinghouse's Original Steam-Powered Train Brake
An 1869 invention by George Westinghouse that used steam pressure to operate train brakes, replacing manual hand-cranked systems with a safer, centralized control mechanism.
1 citation
1880s
Early Roller Coaster Design for Thrill Rides
This 1885 patent describes an early roller coaster structure designed to provide thrilling rides by using gravity and a specific track layout.
How Nikola Tesla Invented the Modern AC Electric Motor
Nikola Tesla's 1888 patent for an induction motor that uses rotating magnetic fields to convert electricity into mechanical motion without needing physical brushes.
1 citation
How the Revolving Door Was Invented
The 1888 patent for the revolving door, designed to keep buildings warm while allowing people to enter and exit easily.
3 citations
1890s
George Selden's 1895 Patent for a Road Engine
George Selden's 1895 patent describes a 'road engine,' a precursor to the automobile, focusing on a combined engine and vehicle design.
How Rudolf Diesel's Engine Works
Rudolf Diesel's 1898 patent describes a highly efficient engine that ignites fuel using the heat generated by compressing air rather than using a spark plug.
10 citations
1900s
Leamon Souder's 1903 Design for a Spiral Escalator
A 1903 patent for a mechanical staircase that moves in a circular, spiraling path to transport people between floors.
17 citations
How Mary Anderson Invented the Windshield Wiper
A 1903 invention by Mary Anderson that allowed drivers to manually clear rain and snow from their windshields using a lever inside the vehicle.
5 citations
John Holland's Design for an Early Submarine Boat
This 1906 patent by John P. Holland describes an early design for a submarine, a vessel capable of traveling underwater, laying the groundwork for modern naval technology.
1910s
How Ole Evinrude Invented the Modern Portable Outboard Motor
A 1911 patent for a compact, detachable marine engine that allowed small boats to be powered by a portable, gasoline-driven propeller unit.
1 citation
Early Car Wheel Traction Device
A 1915 patent for a metal device clamped to a car wheel to improve traction on slippery surfaces.
1920s
A 1920s Design for a Suspended Monorail Transportation System
A 1923 patent by May B. Cornwall describing a structural design for a suspended monorail train system intended for efficient passenger or cargo transport.
7 citations
How Garrett Morgan Invented the Three-Position Traffic Signal
Garrett Morgan's 1923 patent for a T-shaped traffic signal introduced a 'caution' position to manage vehicle flow more safely at busy intersections.
2 citations
1930s
How DuPont Invented Neoprene Synthetic Rubber
A 1934 patent describing the chemical process to turn chlorobutadiene into a durable, oil-resistant synthetic rubber known as Neoprene.
7 citations
The Invention of the Phillips Head Screw
A 1936 patent for a cross-shaped screw head designed to keep a screwdriver centered and prevent it from slipping during high-speed assembly.
8 citations
How the First Coin-Operated Parking Meter Works
Carl Magee's 1935 invention of the mechanical parking meter, which introduced the concept of paying for temporary street parking using a coin-activated timer.
15 citations
1950s
How Early Numerical Control Systems Automated Industrial Milling Machines
A 1952 invention by John Parsons that used punched cards to automatically guide machine tools, effectively launching the era of computer-aided manufacturing.
44 citations
How Eugene Houdry Invented the Modern Catalytic Converter
A 1952 patent for a durable, thin-film catalyst structure that allows gases to flow freely over reactive surfaces, forming the foundation for modern vehicle exhaust systems.
55 citations
How the Float Glass Process Makes Perfectly Flat Window Panes
This 1954 patent describes the float glass process, a method for creating high-quality, perfectly flat glass by floating molten glass on a bath of liquid metal.
53 citations
How George Devol Invented the First Industrial Robot Arm
The 1954 patent for the Unimate, the first digitally controlled robotic arm that could be programmed to move objects in a factory.
93 citations
How the Wankel Rotary Engine Works
A 1957 invention by Felix Wankel that replaces heavy, moving pistons with a triangular rotor spinning inside a chamber to create power.
45 citations
How the Modern Three-Point Car Seatbelt Works
The foundational 1959 patent for the three-point seatbelt, which secures both the torso and lap to prevent injury during vehicle collisions.
17 citations
1960s
How Joseph-Armand Bombardier Designed the Modern Snowmobile
A 1962 patent by Joseph-Armand Bombardier describing a lightweight, engine-driven vehicle using an endless track system for travel over snow.
30 citations
How Intermittent Windshield Wipers Work
Robert Kearns' 1967 patent for the first electronic intermittent windshield wiper system that mimics the human eye's blinking motion.
23 citations
How Hovercrafts Use Flexible Skirts to Ride on Air
This patent describes a gas-cushion vehicle, or hovercraft, that uses a specific arrangement of flexible walls to contain a cushion of pressurized gas and separate foreign matter from the escaping air.
2 citations
How Early Vehicle Airbag Safety Systems Work
A 1968 patent describing an early vehicle safety system that uses a rapidly inflating confinement to protect passengers during a collision.
26 citations
1970s
The Molecular Structure of Kevlar High-Strength Fiber
Stephanie Kwolek's 1971 patent for DuPont describing the molecular alignment and manufacturing of extremely strong, lightweight synthetic aramid fibers, which became famous as Kevlar.
141 citations
Weapon That Shoots Wires to Deliver Electric Shocks
This 1974 patent describes a weapon that fires projectiles carrying wires to deliver incapacitating electric shocks to a target from a distance.
152 citations
Making Strong, Porous PTFE: The Gore-Tex Process
This patent describes a specific process for rapidly stretching a highly crystalline form of PTFE plastic to create a strong, porous material with a unique internal structure, forming the basis for products like Gore-Tex.
1,364 citations
1990s
Boosting Fuel Cell Power for Vehicles Using Oxygen Injection
A system that boosts a vehicle's fuel cell power by injecting pure oxygen into the air supply when the engine needs extra energy.
90 citations
How a Modern Camera Sensor Captures Light and Converts It to Data
This patent describes a camera sensor technology that combines light-capturing elements with a special circuit to read out the image data quickly and efficiently, all on a single chip.
620 citations
How the QR Code Works
The 1995 patent by Toyota Central R&D Labs that invented the QR code, using three distinct corner squares with a unique 1:1:3:1:1 pixel ratio to let scanners instantly find and read the code from any angle.
250 citations
How Car Windows Use Special Coatings to Balance Privacy and Visibility
A patent for automotive glass that uses a specific combination of tinted glass and multi-layered coatings to keep the inside private while ensuring the driver can see out clearly.
7 citations
How Self-Balancing Vehicles Warn Users Before They Tip Over
A safety system for self-balancing vehicles that monitors how much 'room' the machine has left to accelerate before it loses its ability to stay upright.
172 citations
2000s
How Car Battery Modules Combine High and Low Voltage Systems
A self-contained battery module that houses both high and low voltage batteries, a power converter, and safety switches in a single unit designed for efficient heat management.
46 citations
How a MEMS Sensor Uses a Reference to Improve Z-Axis Accuracy
This patent describes a tiny sensor that measures up-and-down motion more accurately by including a special surrounding structure that helps cancel out environmental interference.
22 citations
How Devices Predict Your Next Move Using Gestures and History
A patent for a smart interface that tracks your physical gestures and past habits to predict what you want to do next, showing custom options on a screen to save you time.
34 citations
How Farm Vehicles Plant Evenly in Odd-Shaped Fields
This patent describes a smart system for farm vehicles that plans planting paths in fields with non-parallel sides, automatically turning off parts of the planter to avoid wasting seeds by replanting.
9 citations
How Remote Devices Prove They Have Not Been Tampered With
A system for a remote device to prove to a central server that its internal security processes are running correctly without exposing sensitive raw data.
2010s
How Electric Cars Adjust Charging Speed to Available Power
This patent describes how an electric vehicle's onboard charger intelligently adjusts its charging speed based on the real-time electrical power available from the wall outlet or charging station, preventing overloads and optimizing charge time.
11 citations
How a Tiny Sensor Uses an Extra Weight to Detect Motion
This patent describes a miniature sensor that detects movement or force by measuring changes in electrical signals between tiny plates, featuring a clever extra weight to make it more sensitive.
40 citations
How Electric Cars Safely Pause Charging When You Want to Unplug
A system for electric vehicles that safely pauses power flow when a driver signals they want to disconnect the charging cable, preventing electrical arcing or damage.
1 citation
How Screens Change What They Show Based on Your Hand Distance
A method for changing the menu options shown on a screen depending on how close or far away your hand is hovering above it.
3 citations
How an EV Charging Station Manages Power from Batteries and the Grid
This patent describes a smart charging system for electric vehicles that decides whether to power cars from a local battery or the main electricity grid, and when to recharge that local battery, to help balance power demand.
1 citation
Forecasting When Used Electric Car Batteries Will Be Available for Reuse
This patent describes a system that predicts when electric vehicles will reach the end of their useful life and how much capacity their batteries will still have, to forecast the future supply of batteries that can be reused in other applications.
5 citations
Improving MEMS Sensor Accuracy with a Co-located Reference Structure
This patent describes a tiny sensor (MEMS) that measures motion, especially up-and-down (z-axis), by including a special stable reference part electrically connected to the moving part, which helps cancel out environmental noise and makes measurements much more accurate.
4 citations
How to Combine Pressure and Motion Sensors on One Tiny Chip
This patent describes a method for building a single microchip that contains both a pressure sensor and a motion sensor, making devices smaller and more efficient.
16 citations
How to Grade Used Batteries for a Second Life
This patent describes a system that reads electrical characteristics and usage history from a rechargeable battery module to determine if it's good enough to be used again for a different purpose, like energy storage.
4 citations
How to Prepare a Fuel Cell for Faster, Cheaper Startup
This patent describes a method for 'pre-activating' a fuel cell stack by injecting humidified hydrogen, sealing it, and storing it, which helps reduce the time and hydrogen needed for its first full operation.
3 citations
How a Snake Robot Uses Two Arms to Work Together
This patent describes a snake-like robot with at least two movable arms that work together to perform complex tasks, like inspecting pipes or lifting heavy objects.
27 citations
How Vehicles Send Data Without Revealing Who Is Driving
A system that separates a driver's personal identity from vehicle performance data by sending them to a server in separate, disconnected communication sessions.
How a Battery Heats Itself in the Cold for Better Performance
This patent describes a rechargeable battery that can warm itself up in freezing temperatures by temporarily increasing its internal electrical resistance, then switching back to normal operation for full power.
8 citations
Drone Navigation Using Cameras and Echolocation
This 2017 patent describes a drone navigation system that uses both cameras and echolocation sensors to detect obstacles and find its way, with echolocation taking priority for immediate threats.
12 citations
Improving Lithium Battery Life with a Built-in Lithium Source
This patent describes a method for building rechargeable lithium-based batteries with a special extra lithium source electrode inside that helps the main battery parts work better and last longer by giving them an initial charge of lithium ions.
11 citations
How Batteries Charge Fast in the Cold Without Damage
This patent describes a smart battery system that uses an internal heater to warm itself up for quick, safe charging, even when it's freezing outside.
11 citations
How NAND Flash Memory Adjusts to Cold Temperatures
This patent describes a method for NAND flash memory systems to prevent errors by automatically adjusting their operating conditions, like data speed or voltage, when the temperature drops too low.
5 citations
How a Fan-Out Chip Package Connects Multiple Chips on a Metal Substrate
This patent describes a way to stack and connect multiple tiny computer chips using a metal base, allowing more connections to spread out from the chip.
13 citations
Precisely Stopping Device Vibrations for Better Touch Feedback
This patent describes a method for precisely stopping the tiny vibrations in a device, like a phone, by sending a special 'braking' signal to make touch feedback feel sharper and more controlled.
33 citations
Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries to Make New Cathode Materials
This patent describes a method for recycling used lithium-ion batteries by dissolving their cathode materials, adjusting the metal ratios in a liquid, and then pulling out a custom mix of materials for new batteries without needing extreme heat.
9 citations
How Vehicles and Drones Find Their Way Using Many Sensors
This patent describes a layered computer system that combines data from many different sensors and an Inertial Measurement Unit to precisely determine a mobile platform's position, velocity, and orientation, even in challenging environments.
5 citations
How Fuel Cells Get Even Gas Flow with Special Layers
This patent describes a fuel cell component that uses a special two-layer design with linear channels and transverse openings to evenly spread fuel gas for better performance.
1 citation
Efficient Hardware for Spiking Neural Network Calculations
This patent describes a specialized processor designed to quickly calculate layers in a spiking convolutional neural network by using parallel computing units whose number doesn't depend on the network's size, making AI processing more efficient.
1 citation
How a Drone Can Fly Ahead of a Moving Vehicle
This patent describes a system where a drone flies a non-linear path, deliberately spaced from a moving ground or water vehicle, using the vehicle's future path information to stay ahead or in a specific relative position.
2 citations
How a Drone Flies Ahead of a Moving Ground or Water Vehicle
This patent describes a method where an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flies ahead of a mobile base station, like a boat or ground vehicle, by predicting the base station's future path and scouting the area in advance.
12 citations
How Eye Tracking Systems Adapt When They Can't See Eye Glints
This patent describes an eye-tracking system that intelligently switches between two methods: one using bright reflections on the eye when available, and another using head position and facial features when those reflections are absent.
4 citations
How to Fast-Charge Lithium Batteries Without Damaging Them
This patent describes a three-phase method for quickly charging lithium-ion batteries while carefully controlling voltages to prevent harmful lithium metal buildup and electrolyte damage.
8 citations
How a Hybrid Layer Stops Metal Growths in Lithium Batteries
This patent describes a special multi-layered electrolyte system for lithium metal batteries that uses a stiff, hybrid material to block dangerous metal growths, aiming for safer, higher-energy batteries.
13 citations
How Self-Driving Cars Use Danger Maps to Drive Safer
This patent describes how vehicles can use a 'danger map' of known hazardous locations to plan safer routes and automatically adjust their driving behavior, like speed or following distance, when approaching risky areas.
38 citations
Smart Charging for Electric Vehicle Batteries Based on Chemistry and Use
This patent describes a method for electric vehicle charging stations to adjust how fast they charge a battery based on its specific chemical type, its current charge level, and even how many passengers are on board.
4 citations
How Self-Driving Cars Find Clear Paths Between Objects
This patent describes a method for vehicles, especially self-driving ones, to use lidar data and a 3D grid to precisely identify open spaces between obstacles, helping them navigate safely.
1 citation
How Tiny Sensors Stay Steady When Their Mounts Shake
This patent describes a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensor design that uses special springs and a stable internal mass to keep its measuring parts steady, even when the sensor's attachment points are vibrating or moving.
3 citations
How to Use Air-Gaps to Insulate High-Voltage Semiconductor Chips
A design for semiconductor chips that uses empty air-filled trenches to provide better electrical insulation for high-voltage transistors without needing complex filling materials.
How to Build a Tiny Pressure Sensor Inside a Silicon Chip
This patent describes a method for building a tiny pressure sensor, called a MEMS sensor, directly inside a silicon chip, where a flexible membrane and a plate form a capacitor that changes with pressure.
1 citation
Smart Charging for Nickel-Zinc Batteries in Hybrid Power Systems
This patent describes a method for precisely controlling the charge of aqueous nickel-zinc batteries in systems like hybrid vehicles or uninterruptible power supplies, using a separate main power source to switch between full and lower 'float' charge states.
1 citation
High-Power Electric Vehicle Charging with Pulsed Current from the Grid
This patent describes a system for rapidly charging electric vehicles using high-voltage grid power and a unique 'pulse current' method that can also automatically park the car.
41 citations
How a Two-Layer Coating Protects Lithium Battery Anodes
This patent describes a lithium battery cell design that uses two special protective layers on the anode to stop harmful growths called dendrites and make the battery last longer and work better, especially in solid-state batteries.
How Titan Trailers Builds Stronger, Smoother Cargo Containers
A design for a cargo trailer shaped like a rounded tube made from flat and curved aluminum panels that are welded together to create a smooth, unobstructed interior.
3 citations
LiDAR System for Seeing Through Shiny Objects
Toyota's patent on a LiDAR system that can ignore blinding reflections from shiny surfaces to better see what's around a vehicle.
9 citations
How a Spinning Lidar Sensor Creates 3D Maps
This patent describes a 3D Lidar sensor that uses a laser bar for one-dimensional sensing and a spinning part to scan in two dimensions, all inside a static outer case with a special window.
7 citations
How Airport Vehicles Automatically Park Safely Next to Airplanes
A smart navigation system that helps airport service vehicles like catering trucks park safely at aircraft doors by identifying targets and avoiding restricted zones.
How Car Factories Calibrate LIDAR Sensors for Self-Driving Cars
This patent describes a system for car factories to precisely adjust a vehicle's LIDAR sensors using special floor and wall targets, ensuring they accurately map the world for features like self-driving.
4 citations
Making Solid-State Battery Electrodes That Don't Swell and Crack
This patent describes a special design for solid-state battery electrodes that uses tiny internal holes and spaces between particles to prevent them from expanding and cracking during charging and discharging.
6 citations
Building Metal Parts Without Melting: Solid-State 3D Printing System
This patent describes a system for building or repairing metal parts by frictionally heating and stirring materials together without melting them, precisely controlling the material's internal structure as it's made.
18 citations
How Computers Train AI Models Using Separate Virtual Simulations
This patent describes a system where one virtual computer runs simulations of a system, like a robot, and another virtual computer uses the simulation data to teach an AI model how to make better decisions.
13 citations
Nvidia's Method for Training Self-Driving Car AI in Simulations
Nvidia's 2022 patent describes how to train AI for self-driving cars by using simulated environments and virtual sensors, then matching the simulated data format to real-world sensor data for AI processing.
17 citations
How a Fuel Cell Humidifier Controls Air Moisture with a Smart Valve
This patent describes a fuel cell humidifier that uses two humidifying spaces and a controllable valve to precisely adjust the moisture content of incoming air before it reaches the fuel cell stack, improving efficiency and durability.
4 citations
Making Safer Battery Separators with Ceramic Coatings
This patent describes how to make a special ceramic coating for battery separators using specific lithium-containing materials and a precise drying process to improve the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries.
3 citations
How Electric Cars Pre-Cool Batteries Before Fast Charging
This patent describes an electric vehicle system that automatically cools its main battery to an ideal temperature while driving to a charging station, making charging faster and more efficient.
1 citation
How a Fuel Cell Humidifier Safely Mixes Exhaust Gases
Hyundai's patent describes a fuel cell humidifier that not only adds moisture to incoming air but also intelligently mixes exhaust gases, including hydrogen, with fresh air using a special valve to make the exhaust safer before it leaves the system.
6 citations
How Mobile Cranes Power Their Upper Parts Using The Lower Base
A design for mobile construction cranes that moves the power generator to the base while keeping the control electronics separate and protected.
Boosting Solid-State Batteries with a Capacitor Interlayer
This patent describes a solid-state battery design that includes a special capacitor-like layer between the main battery parts to improve performance and stability.
14 citations
How Autonomous Trucks Predict and Handle Tire Blowouts
This patent describes how an autonomous vehicle uses real-time sensor data, road conditions, and a dynamic model to predict tire failure and take corrective actions like adjusting its path or pulling over.
28 citations
2020s
How a Car Battery Charges from High-Voltage Stations Using a Capacitor
This patent describes a vehicle power system that uses a capacitor in series with a lower-voltage battery to allow charging from standard electric vehicle charging stations that supply a higher minimum voltage.
How Autonomous Cars Process Sensor Data for Driving
Intel's 2020 patent describes a system for autonomous vehicles that cleans and standardizes data from various sensors before using it to perceive the environment and make driving decisions.
72 citations
Smart EV Charging to Protect Battery Life During Long Parking
This patent describes a system that intelligently discharges and recharges an electric vehicle's battery while parked for a long time, like at an airport, to prevent battery damage and ensure it's ready when the owner returns, using vehicle-to-grid technology.
3 citations
How a Fuel Cell Humidifier Adjusts Air Moisture with a Bypass
This patent describes a fuel cell humidifier that uses a special bypass path to precisely control how much moisture is added to dry air, improving fuel cell performance.
5 citations
How Car Safety Systems Turn Off When Sensors Disagree
This patent describes a car safety system that uses both a camera and a radar sensor to detect objects, and if their detections don't match up, it can disable parts of the driving assistance for safety.
1 citation
How AI Cameras Check Factory Parts for Flaws
This patent describes an automated system using a camera and artificial intelligence to inspect manufactured parts, identifying defect types, locations, and confidence levels, then communicating this data to a factory controller.
How a Battery Automatically Disconnects Itself During Overheating
A safety system for battery packs that uses a heat-sensitive material to physically break the electrical connection between cells if they get too hot, preventing thermal runaway.
How AI Automatically Labels Images and Checks Its Own Work
A method for training AI to label images by calculating how uncertain it is about its own predictions, allowing it to verify its accuracy without human help.
1 citation
How a Drone Automatically Films a Moving Car Like a Movie Crew
This patent describes a system where a drone automatically films a moving vehicle by receiving real-time vehicle data, predicting its future path, and then flying a pre-planned "movie script" of camera shots relative to the car.
3 citations
How Self-Driving Cars Detect Dirty Lidar Sensors
Waymo's 2024 patent on a self-driving car system that uses two scans from a rotating Lidar sensor to spot dirt or obstructions on its lens.
1 citation
How to See Where Gear Teeth Touch Using Glowing Oil
This patent describes a method for precisely mapping where gear teeth contact each other by applying a special glowing oil mixture, rolling the gears, and then observing the resulting pattern under ultraviolet light.
1 citation
How Rohm Designs Compact Semiconductor Packages for Better Heat Management
A semiconductor packaging design by Rohm that arranges multiple chips and specific lead terminals to optimize space and thermal performance in electronic devices.
How Delivery Drones Self-Calibrate and Pass Safety Checks Before Takeoff
A system for automated drone maintenance stations that check if a drone is safe to fly by verifying its GPS, weight, and physical condition without human help.
9 citations
Lidar System for Spotting Retro-Reflective Objects
This patent describes a lidar system that uses a special signal processing technique to identify objects that reflect light directly back to its source, like road signs or safety vests.
How to Build Solid-State Batteries with Tiny Holes for Better Electrolyte
This patent describes a method for manufacturing solid-state batteries by punching small holes through battery electrodes and then filling these holes with a liquid that hardens into a solid electrolyte, aiming for more efficient power delivery.
2 citations
Improving AI Predictions by Factoring in How Much You Trust Each Model
This patent describes a method for making an AI system more accurate by combining several individual AI models and giving more weight to the ones considered more trustworthy.
31 citations
How Bicycle Racks Keep Their Lights Visible While Moving
A bicycle rack that keeps its lights pointed backward whether the rack is folded up against the car or lowered to carry bikes.
1 citation
Automated AI for Adapting to New Data Without Retraining
This patent describes an automated system that builds artificial intelligence models capable of adapting to new, different data without needing full retraining, by learning to ignore irrelevant changes.
46 citations
How Vehicle Radar Systems Correct Phase Errors for Better Object Detection
A radar system for cars that switches between two modes with different pulse speeds to fix phase errors, helping the vehicle more accurately track the direction and speed of objects.
How to Combine Wide-Angle LiDAR Depth with Standard Camera Images
This patent describes a method for combining a wide-angle depth map from a LiDAR sensor, which has unevenly spaced pixels, with a standard camera image by first correcting the depth map's pixel distribution and then merging the two for a complete view.
1 citation
Recycling Lithium-Ion Battery Parts Using a Gentle Liquid Method
This patent describes a method for taking apart used lithium-ion batteries by soaking their electrodes in a special liquid to separate valuable materials like active electrode powders from metal collectors, making them easier to reuse.
AI That Finds Partially Hidden Objects in Images
This patent describes an AI system that uses multiple machine learning models to accurately identify objects in an image, even when parts of those objects are blocked by something else.
Mobile Factories for Recycling Used Electric Vehicle Batteries
This patent describes a system of movable containers that can be brought to a location to safely discharge, cool, disassemble, and crush used battery packs, making the recycling process more flexible and efficient.
Robot Design for Carrying Objects While Walking
This patent describes a robot with a torso, legs, arms, and a special forward-extending protrusion designed to help it carry objects while it walks.
3 citations
A New Fluoropolymer for Stronger Wires and Molded Parts
This patent describes a specific type of plastic, a copolymer made with tetrafluoroethylene and perfluoro(propyl vinyl ether), designed to be easily molded and used in things like electrical wires and compressed parts, thanks to its precise chemical makeup and properties.
How to Precisely Control Solid-State 3D Printing for Stronger Materials
This patent describes a system for precisely controlling solid-state additive manufacturing, allowing real-time adjustments to create specific material structures without melting, using continuous material feeds.
9 citations
How Autonomous Vehicles Use Different Camera Lenses for Better Vision
This patent describes a specific arrangement of cameras for self-driving vehicles, using multiple forward-facing cameras with different focal lengths and a pair of backward-facing cameras with identical focal lengths to achieve comprehensive vision.
How a Sealed Electric Motor Stays Cool Inside
This patent describes a brushless direct-current (BLDC) motor sealed in an airtight compartment that uses openings in its spinning rotor to create an internal airflow, cooling the motor by transferring heat to the end caps.
Electrical Wire with a Heat-Resistant Plastic Coating
This patent describes an electrical wire coated with a specific plastic blend, a copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluoro(propyl vinyl ether), designed to withstand high temperatures and improve durability.
Managing and Updating AI on Many Smart Devices from the Cloud
This patent describes a system for remotely monitoring and updating artificial intelligence models running on a fleet of connected smart devices, like factory robots or smart cameras, all managed from a central cloud-based control panel.
21 citations
How a Smart LIDAR System Adapts to Noise for Better Distance Sensing
This patent describes a LIDAR system that uses multiple lasers and detectors, and intelligently adjusts the electrical settings of specific detectors to reduce noise and improve distance measurements in different lighting conditions.
1 citation
Smartly Turning On and Off a Vehicle Battery Charger
This patent describes a smart way to turn on and off a vehicle's battery charging system by checking the generator's power output and battery health, ensuring safe and efficient charging.
1 citation
How to Check if GPS Signal Corrections are Working Right
This patent describes a system to generate, check, and combine corrections for satellite navigation signals, ensuring they are accurate for precise positioning applications.
How Self-Driving Cars Detect and Respond to Road Emergencies
Waymo's patent describes how an autonomous vehicle uses sensors to spot unexpected dangers like people in the road or unusual traffic signs, then takes action to keep everyone safe.
Toyota's Patent on Detecting Road Hazards with LIDAR
Toyota's 2025 patent describes a car system using LIDAR to spot road problems by comparing how light bounces off the road to a known 'good' road signal.
How a Vehicle Dynamically Adjusts Tire Pressure Based on Driving
This patent describes a system and method for automatically adjusting a vehicle's tire pressure based on current driving conditions, using wheel-mounted inflators connected to a central computer.
How to 3D Print Metal Parts with Easy-to-Remove Supports
This patent describes a method for 3D printing complex metal objects with support structures that can be easily removed after the final part is made solid, by using a special non-stick layer in between.
1 citation
How to Adapt Existing Motors to Power New Equipment
A mechanical adapter system that lets you connect an existing motor's spinning shaft to a new, secondary machine like a generator or pump.
Checking UV Glue Curing While It Happens in Robotic Assembly
This patent describes a system that uses a light guide to shine UV light on glue, then immediately checks how well the glue is curing by measuring reflected light, all within a robot assembly line.
How a Tool Automatically Installs Blind Rivet Nuts
This patent describes a method for a tool to automatically install a blind rivet nut by first pushing it against a surface, then rotating it, and finally pulling it back to deform and secure it.
Checking if 3D Point Cloud Data Follows a Standard
This patent describes a system for ensuring that compressed 3D point cloud data, used in things like virtual reality, meets specific rules about the number of points it contains, making it compatible across different devices.
How an Auxiliary Controller Manages Supplemental Fuel Injection
A method for an add-on computer to calculate and control extra fuel injection by piggybacking on data from a car's original engine computer.
How to Inspect Moving Objects on a Production Line with a Moving Camera
This patent describes a method and apparatus for inspecting specific defect locations on objects moving along a production line by having an optical camera move alongside the object to take images without stopping the line.
How Your Car Can Become a Payment Card
This patent describes a system where a car's computer system can store your payment cards and use special short-range signals from external car parts to securely pay at places like gas stations or drive-thrus.
How a Car Can Pay for Things Using Secure Short-Range Communication
This patent describes a system where a car acts as a payment device, using a very short-range wireless link from exterior hardware to securely send a tokenized credit card number to a payment terminal.
Efficiently Combining Data from Different Sensors
This patent describes a system for combining information from many different types of sensors more efficiently by carefully selecting and processing the data, reducing the computer power needed.
How a Cloud Server Remotely Controls Smart Devices in Buildings and Cars
This patent describes how an internet-connected server can remotely manage smart devices like sensors and actuators in buildings or vehicles, using a continuous feedback system and built-in redundancy for reliable control.