One day, industrial spies will be on the dole !

It used to be that patents gave were the key to having the competitive edge
in the automobile industry, so Toyota has surprised everyone by publishing in open source more than 24,000 of its hybrid technology patents. Why? What’s in it for the business? What are the risks?

Let OneDay enlighten you.

The formula is already known and proven : to a market to arrive at maturity, it requires users and infrastructure. 2 factors that a single player on the market cannot put together alone in a limited time. This is where Toyota’s stance comes from, and it had already been done to a lesser extent by Volvo and Tesla. What it open source became a profitable and rewarding model for everyone ?

When the car runs on open source!

Open source is the principle by which resources are made available to everyone for free and until now it was well known in computer software (50% of the world’s websites are built via the WordPress platform). Other intellectual property was also affected – books, for example.

What is new here is that this is cars. It’s a sector where competition is fierce and patents are jealously guarded.

What’s the reason for it?

Winning horses!

After 25 years of research, Toyota has decided to put its money on hybrid technology. Others, such as Tesla, have gone for all electric.

For the hybrid market to take off, the Japanese brand has a vested interest in organising the competition. To encourage other manufacturers to use the technology to get started, but also to continue development based on its patents.