Hyundai Mobis ramps up patent development for future mobility tech

Hyundai Mobis, a South Korean auto parts maker and a key affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said on Thursday that it filed more than 3,000 patents last year, mainly in areas related to future mobility such as autonomous driving, electrification and urban air mobility (UAM), and that its overseas filings surpassed domestic ones for the first time.

The company held its 2023 Patent Awards at its research center in Gyeonggi Province, rewarding 35 researchers for their patent achievements. Among the patents recognized were a new autonomous driving camera that can operate safely in bad weather, and a next-generation side airbag that can deploy in real time in case of side collisions.

Hyundai Mobis is enhancing its patent competitiveness by developing global standard patents in core future mobility technologies such as autonomous driving and communication.

To acquire standard patents, Hyundai Mobis is pursuing various strategies such as predicting the technologies that will become international standards in the future and filing patents strategically. It is also re-filing existing patents as standard patents according to the format of international standard organizations.

Additionally, the company is acquiring excellent patents from domestic and foreign universities, companies and research institutes, and investing in promising technologies that can develop into original technologies. Joint research with these institutions is also being undertaken on high-value-added technologies.

Hyundai Mobis’s acquisition of a wireless charging patent two years ago is an example of such a strategy. The technology is seen as a key technology for future applications in urban air mobility, robots and electric vehicles, and is expected to generate new revenue beginning this year.

“We have patent experts and attorneys who provide close support for each stage from selecting research projects to verifying reliability. We hope to create continuous value through acquiring promising patents in the future mobility sector,” a Hyundai Mobis official said.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com