Company patents
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. surprisingly shows a significant, albeit fluctuating, interest in Vehicle Powertrain Arrangement and Vehicle Control Systems, with patents in these categories experiencing rapid growth of +116.7% and +450.0% respectively in 2025, despite its core focus remaining on Excavating & Earth-Moving, which constitutes 71.5% of its portfolio. While patenting activity across most categories, including its dominant Excavating & Earth-Moving, shows a sharp decline so far in 2026, the company's consistent, albeit smaller, investment in Industrial Control Systems (YoY +50.0% in 2026) and Image Processing (YoY +200.0% in 2026) suggests an emerging focus on advanced automation and visual technologies.
Patent Trend by Technology Area
Yearly patent publications since 2023
Product themes
Product-level themes inferred from filings since 2023, with category chips showing where each theme appears. Select a theme to filter the patents below.
459 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 25 themes
Systems and methods for enabling earth-moving machines to perform tasks with reduced or no human intervention, often leveraging predictive models, sensor fusion, and coordinated multi-machine operations.
Innovations in the mechanical design, modularity, and enhanced functionality of excavator attachments and implements, including multi-axis rotation, specialized grapples, and integrated compaction tools.
Techniques and components for improving the efficiency, control, and responsiveness of hydraulic systems in heavy machinery, often involving variable displacement pumps, pressure regulation, and flow control.
Integration of diverse sensors and machine perception algorithms to gather and interpret data about the machine's environment, its own state, and subsurface conditions for improved operation, safety, and mapping.
Methods and components for optimizing the performance, efficiency, and control of electric motors, inverters, and power converters within electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle drivetrains.
Methods and apparatus for performing non-standard or highly specific excavation tasks, such as underwater harvesting, material screening, or earth removal with structural reinforcement.
Systems for coordinating and controlling fleets of autonomous vehicles or machines, including task allocation, route optimization, and monitoring their operational status and progress.
Addresses the design and arrangement of electric motors, transmissions, and associated power electronics (like inverters) to form integrated drive units for hybrid or electric vehicles, including specific components like busbars and electric brakes.
Systems and methods enabling the monitoring, configuration, and operation of industrial equipment and processes from a distance, often utilizing wireless communication protocols and networked platforms for enhanced flexibility and access.
Control systems for managing vehicle braking and maintaining a stationary state, including brake pedal actuation sensing, automatic brake hold functions, and coordination with parking brakes.
Transmissions designed to provide a continuous range of gear ratios between fixed limits, often employing ball-planetary, toroidal, or belt-pulley mechanisms, and including their control systems for stable operation in various directions.
Utilizing sensor data, historical performance, and analytical models to anticipate equipment failures, diagnose faults, and estimate remaining useful life, thereby enabling proactive maintenance and reducing downtime.
Technologies for monitoring vehicle performance, detecting faults, collecting operational data, and providing remote assistance or automated control based on sensor inputs and network connectivity.
Novel configurations and materials for gears and drivetrain components, including specialized profiles, self-aligning features, damping elements, and complex gear train arrangements like planetary, cycloidal, or strain wave gearing.
Systems and methods for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing the movement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other aircraft, including real-time connectivity, flight planning, and route modification.
Methods and systems for accurately determining the absolute or relative position of an object or device, often integrating satellite navigation (GNSS), inertial measurement units (IMU), and local ranging or wireless communication technologies.
Algorithms and systems for generating, optimizing, and executing trajectories for autonomous vehicles or robots to move through an environment, often involving obstacle avoidance, route validation, and goal reaching.
Systems designed to manage the temperature of multiple components in electric or hybrid vehicles, such as batteries, electric motors, power electronics, and the passenger cabin, often using shared or interconnected cooling/heating circuits.
Systems enabling wireless communication between vehicles (V2V), vehicles and infrastructure (V2I), or vehicles and other entities (V2X) to share information for traffic management, safety, and navigation.
Systems and methods for enhancing the safety of vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists) by improving their detection, prediction, and precise localization relative to the vehicle, often leveraging communication technologies and specialized markers.
Designs and components for efficiently supplying, collecting, and managing lubricants (oil, grease) within gearboxes and transmissions to reduce friction, dissipate heat, and extend component operational life.
Techniques and hardware for autonomous systems to gather and interpret data about their surroundings, including obstacle detection, object recognition, and depth estimation, to inform control decisions.
Focuses on the structural integrity, housing, mounting, and physical integration of battery cells into robust and protected packs within electric vehicles, including manufacturing considerations.
Design and integration of systems for storing and delivering alternative fuels (e.g., hydrogen, CNG, or specific fuel vapor management for gasoline) within the vehicle, including pressure vessels and specialized valves.
Automated systems using image processing and artificial intelligence to identify, classify, and assess the extent of damage to structures or objects, supporting maintenance or insurance claims.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 98
Machine Perception & Sensing