Considering the key role of electronics in future cars, alliances between electronics and automotive companies, dubbed E-Vehicle Alliances, are being formed worldwide.
Sony Honda Mobility, the electric vehicle joint venture of Sony and Honda, held a press conference in Las Vegas on Jan. 8 (local time), a day before the opening of CES 2024, unveiling the electric car prototype AFEELA. The production of AFEELA is expected to start as early as 2025.
Sony Honda Mobility announced plans to jointly develop AI for Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) with Microsoft and revealed plans to receive an integrated chipset from Qualcomm for operating ADAS.
Panasonic announced a sudden “business alliance” with the Japanese premium car manufacturer Infiniti on the same day. The 2025 model of Infiniti’s QX80 Sports Utility Vehicle will feature Panasonic’s car audio and speaker systems. Panasonic plans to exhibit the 2025 model QX80 equipped with its audio and speaker systems at its booth. Significant synergies are expected from this Japanese corporate transaction.
The close relationship between leading Korean companies Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor is deepening. Samsung has strengthened its alliance by supplying semiconductors, displays, batteries, and software to Hyundai Motor and Kia.
On Jan. 4, Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, and Kia signed a Home-to-Car and Car-to-Home Service Partnership MOU, integrating core platform services. Starting from the second half of this year, Samsung Electronics’ home appliance management app SmartThings and Hyundai and Kia’s Connected Car Services will be linked. Users can start the car and pre-adjust the temperature using SmartThings, and vice versa, control home air conditioners through Hyundai’s infotainment system.
Since 2020, Samsung Electronics has been supplying infotainment chips and image sensors (high-performance semiconductors acting as camera eyes) to Hyundai Motor. Samsung Display’s OLED panels and Samsung SDI’s batteries are also supplied. There is speculation that the collaboration between the two companies might extend to the autonomous driving sector, as Samsung Electronics is involved in contract manufacturing of Hyundai Motor’s autonomous driving chips.
With the growing market for future cars, including autonomous vehicles, the need to establish supply chains has become more critical. While a conventional internal combustion engine car uses about 300 semiconductors, a level 3 (conditional autonomous driving) or higher autonomous vehicle requires about 2,000 semiconductors. Additionally, the demand for vehicle displays, digital cockpits (digital dashboards), and car audio is also surging.