Technological Prospection with a Focus on Assistive Technology in Adapted Vehicles for People with Disabilities

Abstract

This study aimed to review the production of patent documents related to assistive technology on adapted vehicles for people with disabilities. The technological prospection was carried out through a search on the Espacenet database, resulting in 277 patents whose data we organized into charts. The results show that the total number of patents filed in this area is small and with a limited increase over the years, maybe due to industrial secrecy. Twenty-eight countries registered patents. The Republic of China and the Korea Republic were the main depositors, while Brazil registered only one patent. They focused on people with a physical disability, so further projects to attend to other types of disability are also required. There is a necessity to increase government and private sectors investments for technological advances in this area.