By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN intellectual property agency WIPO on Thursday said that air taxis, “autonomous autos” and reusable rockets are just some of the future transport solutions that inventors all over the world are striving to make a reality, while patents for combustion engines are “flatlining”.
WIPO’s Technology Trends report on the Future of Transportation, the latest information from patent filings offers a tempting glimpse of a not-so distant and enticing future where there’s less traffic pollution, fewer snarl-ups and air travel to the other side of the world made possible in just a few hours.
WIPO said “Analysis of patents shows that inventors are working hard to ensure that how we get around tomorrow is cleaner and better than today,”
It said that patent filings for future transportation solutions have grown by 700 per cent over the last two decades, from 15,000 inventions in 2003 to 120,000 in 2023.
“Autonomous ships and smart ports are revolutionizing transportation at sea; electric vehicles, high-speed trains and smart traffic management systems are driving change on land,” WIPO insisted.
“Vertical take-off and landing aircraft are offering new ways to travel by air, while reusable rockets and satellite technology are pushing what is possible beyond the earth’s atmosphere.”
WIPO stated that driving this trend is the recognition that transportation accounts for more than one-third of CO2 emissions globally has encouraged the development of sustainable technologies that reduce the environmental impact of transportation.
These include the adoption of electrified propulsion, the shift to renewable energy sources and the promotion of public and shared transport options.
The agency insisted that digitalization is also revolutionizing the transportation sector, pointed to the rise of autonomous driving, “which is projected to generate from $300 billion to $400 billion in revenue by 2035”.
WIPO stressed that intellectual property supports this kind of groundbreaking innovation – such as wireless charging for electric vehicles – by encouraging investment in research and development.
The agency said competition is fierce as firms jostle for access to rare earth minerals, AI is also taking centre stage.
“The report also shows flat lining growth in patenting activity for legacy products like the internal combustion engine and other fossil fuel-based systems” such as catalytic converters, the WIPO noted.
The data indicated that over 1.1 million inventions have reshaped transportation since 2000, introduced the prospect of sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based systems such as renewable energy cells, air taxis and self-piloting cargo ships.
China, Japan, the US, South Korea and Germany represents the world’s top inventors.
Land transportation patents dominate global filings, at 3.5 times more than for air, sea and space combined. The US has filed the most international patents, WIPO stated.
The largest area of growth in patenting is related to sustainable propulsion – such as batteries for electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel cells which represent efforts to ensure that people and goods are moved around in a “cleaner, more climate-friendly fashion”.
The experts with an eye on imaginative transport solutions for the future say that AI is also poised to play a key role.
They pointed the rise of autonomous driving, although infrastructure has not adapted swiftly enough for such vehicles to take over, the WIPO report notes.
The report co-author Christopher Harrison said that the scarcity of minerals will determine whether the world can massively adopt electric cars vehicles may not be miracle solutions for private owners.
“Having these rare and limited raw earth minerals in an electric vehicle for personal use that’s been utilized only a few per cent of the day is not an effective use of those tools,” he said.
In the air sector, drones will continue their sky-high ascension, the agency report indicated.
Robert Garbett, the founder of Drone Major Group, cited in the WIPO report that “I would not like to look up at a sky full of drones delivering pizzas or a pair of gloves to my house and causing visual and noise pollution,”
“If a delivery is to a remote location that is really hard to get to, people will be more likely to accept it as a beneficial solution,” he added.
He cited emergency medicine as an example.
According to WIPO, transport patent growth in China has been strong given its recent dominance of the electric vehicle market. But other countries have contributed with strong patent filings activity including Sweden, Italy, India and Canada, the agency concluded.
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