DHAKA: Automakers, not technology companies, are in the driver’s seat in developing self-driving, ‘autonomous’ cars, and Japan’s Toyota Motor is best positioned to lead the way, according to a new report on patents for the fast-evolving technology.

As automakers enter agreements with Silicon Valley companies to develop self-driving cars, Tesla Motor and Apple would make logical partners, the report says.

The report, by the Intellectual Property and Science division of Thomson Reuters, is based on a detailed analysis of patent filings by automakers and tech companies for autonomous-car technology.

The findings illuminate the challenges for both established automakers and Silicon Valley companies as they compete to profit from moving people around in a world that is increasingly congested and concerned about carbon emissions.

The global auto industry is in the midst of three simultaneous, and interconnected, technology revolutions.

The first is the quest for cleaner alternatives to internal-combustion engines. The second involves connectivity and linking cars to information or data services.

Lastly, the autonomy revolution is the effort to develop self-driving cars that could enable services in which electric cars connected to the Web can be summoned to provide rides on demand.

‘Automakers aren't as good as technology companies in tooting their own horns,’ Tony Trippe, principal author of the report, told the media in an interview, The Times of India reports.

‘But when you look at the patent data, the automakers are all over this.’

BDST: 1620 HRS, JAN 07, 2016
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