  The transportation industry remains a significant contributor to greenhouse
gas emissions, highlighting the requirement for intelligent systems to enhance
vehicle energy efficiency. The intellectual property rights of developed
systems should be protected by patents. However, there is no patent overview of
eco-driving intelligent systems. Unlike a scientific article, a patent
documentation indicates both novelty and commercialization potential of an
inventor. To address this research gap, this paper provides a patent overview
of eco-driving intelligent systems and algorithms. 424 patents in the Google
Patent database are analyzed. The patent analysis results show that the top
three Cooperative Patent Classifications are: Y02T - climate change mitigation
technologies related to transportation (50.7%), B60W - Conjoint control of
vehicle subunits of different types or different functions (34.4%) and B60L -
Propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles (20.2%). 219 patents were filed
after 2016 when deep learning became popular and can be categorized into five
groups: vehicle energy management, smart driving, ecological and sustainable
driving, fuel consumption reduction, and driving behavior optimization.
Furthermore, all 219 patents involve the physical components of the intelligent
system and/or novel machine learning/deep learning algorithms. Moreover, over
70% of them are granted by the China National Intellectual Property
Administration.
