TOKYO, Japan–Toyota Motor Corp came to an agreement with auto-part maker Denso Corp setting up a joint venture to expand into development of next-generation automotive semiconductors, a move announced by the companies on Wednesday that is industry’s latest toward manufacturing self-driving and connected vehicles.
In their joint statement, companies shared the details of the new company with Denso, which is already a supplier to Toyota Group, will be holding 51% ownership of the new company while remainder of the stakes will be owned by Toyota.
Toyota and Denso said that they are in plans of establishing the new company in April 2020 that will have capital of 50 million yen ($458,968) and will employ about 500 people.
Components like periphery monitoring sensors for automated vehicles and power modules for electric vehicles will be the focus point of the venture.
Importance of the computing power has been increased as more and more cars are becoming connected not only to each other but to the transportation infrastructure such as traffic lights and that is not the end because it will eventually make those cars connected with about everything else.
And that is also increasing the need of autonomous driving systems to become more capable of sensing the world around them, interpreting that data, and then makes decision on the basis of that gathered data like whether to stop or turn right or left to avoid an obstacle, and to perform all those functions there is a time limited to a fraction of a second.
To accelerate innovation efforts and in order to help improve their efficiency, last year in June, Toyota and Denso agreed to combine production and development of their electronic components at Denso’s facilities, while the two companies in March of last year also partnered with another supplier of Toyota Group, Aisin Seiki Co Ltd, to build up an autonomous driving development center in Tokyo, called Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development, or TRI-AD.
