Company patents
SUBARU CORPORATION
SUBARU CORPORATION's patent strategy reveals a surprising, strong emerging focus on "Vehicle Seats & Accommodations," with a remarkable 200.0% year-over-year growth in 2024, indicating a shift towards interior comfort and design innovation. While core automotive categories like "Vehicle Control Systems" (23.6% of portfolio) remain significant, the company also shows a notable, albeit fluctuating, interest in "Batteries & Fuel Cells," which saw a 79.3% YoY increase in 2024, suggesting an exploration into alternative energy sources despite a subsequent decline in 2025 and partial data for 2026.
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.
2,327 US filings (since 2023) · 12 categories · 43 themes
Systems utilizing various sensors (e.g., cameras, radar, sonar) to perceive the vehicle's surrounding environment, detect objects, and process/display relevant information to the driver for enhanced awareness, assistance in maneuvers, or safety.
Methods and components for optimizing the performance, efficiency, and control of electric motors, inverters, and power converters within electric vehicle and hybrid vehicle drivetrains.
Innovations in the materials, manufacturing, and assembly of vehicle body components to enhance rigidity, crashworthiness, and functional integration.
Safety features built into or around vehicle seats to protect occupants during various accident scenarios, including airbags, pre-crash positioning, and blast attenuation.
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.
Algorithms and systems for planning and executing complex vehicle maneuvers, often involving cooperation with other vehicles or infrastructure, to optimize traffic flow, avoid collisions, or navigate challenging scenarios. This includes lane changes, cut-ins, and traffic congestion.
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.
Devices and structural elements within the vehicle cabin or attached to the vehicle body designed to organize, secure, or support various articles, equipment, or even pets, often featuring customizable compartments or robust attachment mechanisms.
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.
Focuses on the structural integrity, housing, mounting, and physical integration of battery cells into robust and protected packs within electric vehicles, including manufacturing considerations.
Technologies for efficiently delivering power to electric vehicles, encompassing fast charging, wireless charging, and smart grid integration, alongside vehicle-side control and management of the charging process.
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.
Software, algorithms, and associated hardware for monitoring, controlling, and optimizing battery performance, safety, and lifespan, including charge/discharge cycles, thermal regulation, and system integration.
Electronic, hydraulic, or steer-by-wire systems that precisely control vehicle direction, often incorporating feedback loops, compensation, and adaptation for various driving conditions or vehicle types.
Technologies for detecting adverse weather conditions or road hazards and providing timely alerts and adaptive control strategies to vehicles and drivers to enhance safety.
Technologies that enable automated or mobile device-controlled access to a vehicle, including keyless entry, remote functions, and power-assisted steps or pedals designed to facilitate easier ingress and egress.
Systems that monitor a vehicle operator's physiological state, attentiveness, or behavior using in-cabin sensors and machine learning to enhance safety or personalize vehicle functions.
Integration and control of electronic components within the vehicle, including power distribution, thermal management for integrated circuits, and advanced user interfaces such as voice assistants, often involving specialized housings or trim.
Methods, tools, and component designs that facilitate the efficient and robust manufacturing, assembly, and attachment of vehicle seat structures, covers, and internal mechanisms.
Seat designs and mechanisms that allow for dynamic adjustment, folding, removal, or repositioning of seats or seat components to adapt to various passenger, cargo, or vehicle usage scenarios.
Systems that dynamically adjust vehicle headlamp beam patterns, direction, or intensity based on driving conditions, vehicle state, or detected objects to improve visibility and safety.
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.
Integrated systems for managing parking facilities, guiding vehicles to available spots, and providing notifications, often leveraging sensors, communication, and remote control.
Systems and methods for detecting the presence, position, characteristics (e.g., weight, pressure, contact area), or state of vehicle occupants, often used for safety, comfort, or system control.
Technologies specifically designed for securing children in vehicles, including child safety seats, impact absorption features, and mechanisms to ensure correct installation or detect misuse.
Techniques for generating, updating, and utilizing highly detailed digital maps that include lane-specific information, and for precisely determining a vehicle's position within these lanes, often using sensor data.
Technologies for safely and efficiently connecting, stabilizing, and maneuvering trailers, including hitch mechanisms, load sensing, and trailer-specific steering or stabilization.
Integrated systems within vehicle seats that provide heating, cooling, ventilation, or air treatment (e.g., scenting) to enhance occupant comfort and well-being.
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.
Systems and methods for dynamically adjusting traffic signal timings and phases at intersections based on real-time traffic conditions, priority vehicles, and predictive analytics to optimize flow and reduce congestion.
Utilizing vehicle lights for communication, warnings, or signaling to other vehicles, pedestrians, or external systems, beyond basic turn signals and brake lights.
Non-core functionalities or convenience items directly integrated into or associated with vehicle seats, such as adjustable pillows, fitness devices, audio systems, or tray tables.
Methods and apparatus for detecting objects and determining their three-dimensional position and orientation (pose) using imagery or point cloud data, often for navigation, surveying, or environmental understanding.
Methods and systems for improving the quality of video streams, generating intermediate frames, or continuously locating and following objects within a sequence of images, even under occlusion.
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.
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.
Slurry compositions and coating processes for battery electrodes, including binder/active-material slurries, surface coating layers, and electrode-to-foil adhesion for cathode and anode.
Processes and apparatus for disassembling spent batteries and recovering valuable materials (e.g., metals, electrolytes, plastics) through mechanical, chemical, or electrochemical methods for reuse or sustainable disposal.
Lighting systems designed for aesthetic enhancement, mood setting, or functional illumination within the vehicle cabin, often integrated into trim, panels, or transparent surfaces.
Methods and apparatus for improving the visual fidelity, resolution, or compression efficiency of video signals, often through advanced processing, up-scaling, or neural network-based filters.
Process and equipment for producing solid-state battery cells, including solid electrolyte synthesis (sulfide/oxide/polymer), thin-film deposition, lamination, sintering, dry-electrode fabrication, and stacking under controlled atmosphere.
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.
Utilizing machine learning, particularly deep learning, to analyze medical data such as images, sensor readings, or physiological signals for disease prediction, diagnosis, or treatment assessment.
Patents
Showing 1-10 of 51
Lane-Level Mapping & Localization