CPC technology class · B64

B64U - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [Uav]

Unmanned aerial vehicles [uav]; equipment therefor. 10,226 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

10,226
US patents granted: #3/6
in B64: 17.5%
B64 class share: +124%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [Uav] ranks #167 of 670 CPC technology areas - 10,226 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 124% over five years.

#167
of 670 CPC technology areas: 10,226
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Sz Dji Technology
leading assignee (622): +124%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B64U's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B64U recorded 6,318 grants versus 2,821 in 2015–2019 (+124% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2023 at 1,338 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 195 (+586% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. holds 6.1% of the class ; the top three share 12.7%.

Leaderboard read

B64U concentration, lead at 6.1%

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 6.1% of B64U - us corporation assignees hold 66% of class grants (3,689 of 5,615). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 6.1%
Top three share: 12.7%
Lead over #2: 136

Where B64U sits inside B64

Among 6 subclasses in B64 (AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; Cosmonautics), B64U ranks #3 and holds 17.5% of the parent class's 58,451 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B64D 21,967 B64C 17,186 B64F 5,518 B64G 2,994 B64B 560

Rising assignees active in B64U

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Beta AIR LLC 61x 6 → 367 company-wide · 49 in B64U
#2 BlueHalo, LLC 34x 0 → 34 company-wide · 6 in B64U
#3 Robotic Research OpCo, LLC 30x 0 → 30 company-wide · 6 in B64U
#4 Metal Raptor Inc. 26x 0 → 26 company-wide · 25 in B64U
#5 Workhorse Group Inc. 26x 2 → 52 company-wide · 25 in B64U

B64U grants by year, peak 2023 (1,338)

US utility-patent grants per year in B64U, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 124% versus 2015–2019.

Sz Dji Technology

622
Amazon

486
Wing Aviation

191
Aerovironment

180
Textron Innovations

177
Skydio

173
Autel Robotics

142
Gopro

125
State Farm Mutual…

124
Alarm com Incorporated

89
Walmart Apollo

86
Kitty Hawk

65

What this shows Sz Dji Technology is the most active filer in B64U, holding 622 of the 10,226 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass B64U
Rank	Company	Patents in B64U
#1	SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd.	622
#2	Amazon Technologies, Inc.	486
#3	Wing Aviation LLC	191
#4	AeroVironment, Inc.	180
#5	Textron Innovations Inc.	177
#6	Skydio, Inc.	173
#7	Autel Robotics Co., Ltd.	142
#8	GoPro, Inc.	125
#9	State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company	124
#10	Alarm.com Incorporated	89
#11	Walmart Apollo, LLC	86
#12	Kitty Hawk Corporation	65
#13	Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation	62
#14	In-situ, Inc.	62
#15	Rakuten Group, Inc.	59
#16	X Development LLC	57
#17	Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.	55
#18	Etak Systems, LLC	53
#19	Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation	51
#20	Beta AIR LLC	49

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B64U assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B64U assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B64U. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B64U's 10,226-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B64U (#167 of 670 by volume ; lead share 6.1%) - not the B64 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

H04Q 10,225 F28F 10,136 F28D 10,118 F16F 10,113

Nearest by lead-assignee share

H10N 6.1% C09K 6.1% B67B 6.1% A47K 6.2%

Questions about B64U

Which company holds the most patents in B64U?

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. leads B64U with 622 patents (6.1% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 66% of class grants.

Which B64U assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B64U, Beta AIR LLC shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (61x: 6 grants in 2019–2021 → 367 in 2022–2024) while holding 49 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B64U compare inside parent class B64?

Inside B64 (AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; Cosmonautics), B64U ranks #3 of 6 subclasses by grant volume and holds 17.5% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B64D (21,967 grants).

What to do with this data

B64U in context - here's where to go next.

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. leads B64U with 622 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B64U ranks #167 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B64, the largest sibling subclass is B64D with 21,967 grants. Explore B64D

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B64U figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (10,226 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.