'Car Space Efficiency', Increase in Patent Applications for Multifunctional Vehicle Seats

Status of domestic patent applications by detailed vehicle seat technology and applicant. Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The proportion of patent applications for multifunctional vehicle seat technologies is increasing. In addition to autonomous driving technology, which will be the core of future vehicles, technologies that enable vehicles to serve as spaces for work, rest, and healthcare are emerging one after another. This is closely linked with changes in the interior structure to accommodate the activities of passengers inside the vehicle.

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 11th, 1,884 patents related to vehicle seat technologies were filed from 2011 to 2020. This means that an average of 188 patents were steadily filed annually over the past decade.

Among the technologies filed during this period, those related to functional improvements such as safety accounted for 1,576 cases (84%), followed by utilization of in-vehicle space with 291 cases (15%), and healthcare such as passenger body diagnosis with 17 cases (1%).

Based on this, it is true that patent applications related to traditional functions such as safety have still been the mainstream.

However, recently, technology development and patent applications that enable the vehicle to be used as a space for rest or work, such as taking a break or holding meetings inside the vehicle, have also become prominent.

As autonomous driving technology advances, allowing the vehicle to drive itself and transport passengers to their destinations, various technologies considering the expansion of activity space and range of actions inside the vehicle are leading to patent applications.

In particular, recently filed vehicle seat technologies include healthcare convergence technologies that detect the passenger’s body and use that information to adjust the seat angle to induce deep sleep or provide emergency relief measures in case of an emergency.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office analyzes that this diversification of seat technologies will align with the transformation of future vehicle interiors into living spaces tailored to passengers’ needs for rest, work, and health.

Hwang Kwang-seok, an examiner at the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, “In the future autonomous driving era, patent applications in the vehicle seat sector are expected to focus more on changing the interior space to enable passengers to engage in productive activities inside the vehicle and applying multifunctional seats.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.