Waymo has a total of 3476 patents globally, out of which 1898 have been granted. Of these 3476 patents, more than 92% patents are active. United States of America is where Waymo has filed the maximum number of patents, followed by China and Europe. Parallelly, United States of America seems to be the main focused R&D center and is also the origin country of Waymo.
Waymo was formed in the year 2009 is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. Company is doing business in the development of autonomous driving technology. As of December 2021, Waymo has a market valuation of over $30 Billion.
Want to know which automotive companies are leading in innovation? Check out our list of the top automotive companies ranked by their patent count here
Do read about some of the most popular patents of Waymo which have been covered by us in this article and also you can find Waymo’s patents information, the worldwide patent filing activity and its patent filing trend over the years, and many other stats over Waymo’s patent portfolio.
How many patents does Waymo have?
Waymo has a total of 3476 patents globally. These patents belong to 1077 unique patent families. Out of 3476 patents, 3199 patents are active.
How many Waymo patents are Alive/Dead?
Worldwide Patents
Patent Families
How Many Patents did Waymo File Every Year?
Are you wondering why there is a drop in patent filing for the last two years? It is because a patent application can take up to 18 months to get published. Certainly, it doesn’t suggest a decrease in the patent filing.
| Year of Patents Filing or Grant | Waymo Applications Filed | Waymo Patents Granted |
| 2011 | 33 | 1 |
| 2012 | 103 | 4 |
| 2013 | 199 | 31 |
| 2014 | 158 | 67 |
| 2015 | 180 | 139 |
| 2016 | 240 | 142 |
| 2017 | 472 | 152 |
| 2018 | 717 | 166 |
| 2019 | 620 | 267 |
| 2020 | 549 | 387 |
| 2021 | 177 | 520 |
How Many Patents did Waymo File in Different Countries?
Countries in which Waymo Filed Patents
| Country | Patents |
| United States Of America | 1496 |
| China | 360 |
| Europe | 278 |
| Korea (South) | 267 |
| Japan | 246 |
| Australia | 151 |
| Singapore | 95 |
| Canada | 83 |
| Israel | 58 |
| United Kingdom | 55 |
| Hong Kong (S.A.R.) | 13 |
| Taiwan | 6 |
| Mexico | 5 |
| New Zealand | 5 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Denmark | 1 |
| Germany | 1 |
Where are Research Centers of Waymo Patents Located?
10 Best Waymo Patents
US9383753B1 is the most popular patent in the Waymo portfolio. It has received 344 citations so far from companies like Uber Technologies, Luminar Technologies and Qualcomm.
Below is the list of 10 most cited patents of Waymo:
| Publication Number | Citation Count |
| US9383753B1 | 344 |
| US8634980B1 | 304 |
| US8660734B2 | 270 |
| US8260482B1 | 268 |
| US8996224B1 | 255 |
| US8457827B1 | 253 |
| US8818608B2 | 249 |
| US9188985B1 | 245 |
| US7295904B2 | 239 |
| US8836922B1 | 237 |
Which Companies are using Waymo Patents to Advance their Research?
If patents or patents from a particular technology area of a company receive a lot of citations, it implies that the technology is being followed and incrementally innovated by the citing companies. It also indicates that citing companies are working on similar and closely related technologies.
The top citing companies in the Waymo patent portfolio are Ford Motor, Toyota and Gm Global Technology Operations.
List of the top forward citing Companies –
| Company | Number of Patents |
| Ford Motor | 129 |
| Toyota | 114 |
| Gm Global Technology Operations | 95 |
| UATC | 66 |
| Hona Motor | 60 |
| Robert Bosch Gmbh | 58 |
| Baidu | 44 |
| Zoox | 40 |
| Denso | 37 |
| IBM | 36 |
Count of 102 and 103 Type Rejections based on Waymo Patents
Top Waymo Patents used in Rejecting Most Patent Applications
| Patent Number | Count of Rejected Applications |
| US8660734B2 | 100 |
| US8825258B2 | 38 |
| US7295904B2 | 34 |
| US9342074B2 | 33 |
| US8849494B1 | 32 |
| US9720410B2 | 30 |
| US9248834B1 | 28 |
| US9188985B1 | 24 |
| US9436182B2 | 23 |
| US8634980B1 | 22 |
What Percentage of Waymo US Patent Applications were Granted?
Waymo (Excluding its subsidiaries) has filed 1237 patent applications at USPTO so far (Excluding Design and PCT applications). Out of these 929 have been granted leading to a grant rate of 97.07%.
Below are the key stats of Waymo patent prosecution at the USPTO.
Which Law Firms Filed Most US Patents for Waymo?
| Law Firm | Total Application | Success Rate |
| Waymo Llc | 585 | 96.66% |
| Mcdonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff Llp Waymo | 555 | 97.56% |
| Fish & Richardson P C | 61 | 100.00% |
| Wickens Herzer Panza | 19 | 100.00% |
| Mcdonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff | 2 | 50.00% |
| Mcdonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff Llp | 1 | 100.00% |
| Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz Llp | 1 | 100.00% |
| Renner Otto Boisselle & Sklar Llp | 1 | 100.00% |
| Wolf Greenfield & Sacks P C | 1 | 100.00% |
Waymo’s mission is “To make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going.”
The Waymo Driver is the epitome of completely autonomous technology that keeps you in control from pick-up to drop-off. Passengers aren’t even have to be able to drive. They can relax in the back seat and enjoy the ride while the Waymo Driver safely transports them to their destination.
The company’s vehicles are equipped with sensors that provide 360-degree views and lasers that detect things up to 300 metres away, allowing them to operate completely autonomously. Radar is used to look around cars and track moving things, while short-range lasers detect and focus on anything close to the vehicle.
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
What are Waymo key innovation segments?
What Technologies are Covered by Waymo?
The chart below distributes patents filed by Waymo in different countries on the basis of the technology protected in patents. It also represents the markets where Waymo thinks it’s important to protect particular technology inventions.
R&D Focus: How Waymo search focus changed over the years?
EXCLUSIVE INSIGHTS COMING SOON!
Interested in knowing about the areas of innovation that are being protected by Waymo?