Patent Situation and Technological Innovation Evolution of Flying Cars

Flying cars are a key carrier for future three-dimensional urban transportation systems. The technology is in a critical transition period from explosive innovation to engineering implementation and commercialization. Based on multi-dimensional patent data, this study obtains 6499 invention patent applications after simple family merging by constructing a composite retrieval formula. A three-level technical branch system is established, including 5 first-level, 12 second-level and 34 third-level branches. Patent application data are systematically tagged and key patents are screened. Systematic analysis is conducted from the aspects of application situations, key technologies, evolution trajectories, and future directions. Four findings are obtained. First, the technology evolution of flying cars shows three development stages: the foundation period (before 2015), the outbreak period (during 2015-2022) and the crucial period (from 2023 to the present). The number of patent applications is gradually increasing, the technical route continues to converge, and the technical maturity is significantly improved. Second, the global innovation landscape is dominated by China and the United States. Chinese innovators hold a clear numerical advantage, with a well-established university support system, and Chinese corporate entities rank high globally. Third, the technology focus has shifted from early airframe configuration and aerodynamic layout to flight control and intelligent driving, and the latter with 30% of applications has become the most active area of patenting layout. Fourth, although the two branches of power and energy system, safety redundancy and airworthiness guarantee account for a relatively low proportion of current applications, the growth rate of patent applications has increased significantly in recent years, which indicates that the industry is concentrating on overcoming the two core bottlenecks restricting commercialization, namely, endurance and operational safety. Based on these findings, this study identifies three major directions for future patent competition : predictive health management and intelligent fault-tolerant control, high-dynamic cooperative perception and decision-making planning algorithm, and high-energy-density aviation power battery.This research provides objective data support and decision-making references for industrial innovators to build intellectual property barriers and formulate patent strategies.