Panasonic reportedly wants to extend its partnership with Tesla Motors beyond batteries and into self-driving technology, as the Japanese supplier focuses more on the automotive business.
Panasonic is the exclusive supplier of batteries for Tesla's Model S, Model X and upcoming mass market Model 3, and plans to contribute US$1.6bn to Tesla's $5 billion battery factory, Reuters reported.
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"We are deeply interested in Tesla's self-driving system," chief executive officer Kazuhiro Tsuga said in an interview. "We are hoping to expand our collaboration by jointly developing devices for that, such as sensors."
One candidate would be so-called organic photoconductive film CMOS image sensors currently under development at Panasonic, which enable high-speed sensing of moving objects without distortion, Tsuga said.
Panasonic aims to add such technology to an automotive business that also includes cockpit displays and navigation systems. It targets annual sales of JPY2 trillion ($17.43bn) for that business in the year to the end of March 2019, from JPY1.3 trillion fiscal year ended March 2016.
As well as automotive, Panasonic and Tesla work together in solar energy, Reuters added.
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