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Ford Motor Company employees have had a bang-up year of innovation, filing for approximately 1,500 U.S. patents so far in 2016. The filings mark a 25 percent increase over 2015, but perhaps more importantly, Ford has submitted more patent applications in 2016 than any other year in their 113-year history.
“Our employees are delivering exciting new technologies for our customers at record levels,” said Raj Nair, Executive Vice President, Product Development/Chief Technical Officer, Ford Motor Company.
Record Numbers
This trend is not just in the United States either. Worldwide, Ford employees drummed up 8,000 new inventions this year, marking a 40 percent increase over 2015 and a whopping 90 percent jump over 2014. In addition, Ford was granted 1,700 additional patents in other countries, bringing the total to more than 3,200 patents worldwide for 2016. Through early December, more than 5,500 Ford employees have submitted invention disclosures. Interesting enough, more than 2,200 of them are first time inventors. This year alone, more than 4,000 first time inventors at Ford have submitted applications.
One of the patents is for an autonomous vehicle drone to increase safety. When activated, the drone deploys from the vehicle and scans the area beyond what the vehicle’s sensors can detect. The drone can be controlled through the infotainment and navigation screens. Tony Lockwood, Ford Manager, Virtual...