Carmakers want the tech without its patent wars

Washington

AS carmakers turn their vehicles into app-laden computers on wheels, there is one habit they do not want to acquire from Silicon Valley: fighting over patents in court.

Manufacturers from BMW AG to Hyundai Motor Co to Ford Motor Co are trying to learn from the smartphone wars, which cost technology companies hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, as they prepare to revolutionise their vehicles.

"No sane automaker wants to repeat these wars, where the lawyers were the only winners," said William Coughlin, chief executive officer of Ford Global Technologies, Ford's intellectual property arm.

Carmakers have ramped up their patent applications as they compete to roll out crash avoidance systems, on-board Wi-Fi and cars that can drive themselves. To avoid court battles over who gets paid and how much, competitors are banding together to jointly license technology, use non-proprietary…