In order to keep up with the huge upheavals in the auto industry, Japan and its large car companies such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda are once again taking an unusual path. Under the guidance of the influential Ministry of Trade and Industry, METI, the companies want to work together to advance the development of so-called software-defined vehicles (SDV). This will allow Japanese manufacturers to sell 12 million such vehicles worldwide by 2030, accounting for 30 percent of the global market, the ministry announced. By 2035, there should be 19 million vehicles. Software-defined vehicles are, for example, cars in which the integrated computer systems play the central role and additional services are activated via a software update instead of, for example, through the use of new engine parts. So far, the American electric pioneer Tesla and Chinese manufacturers such as BYD are considered leaders in this field. Japan has now declared it a “national strategy” to be at the forefront of these new technologies. Since it seems unlikely that individual companies will be able to catch up on their own, the METI now allows and promotes cooperation between corporations in development in seven technology areas . These include, among other things, chips, generative artificial intelligence for automated inspections and security measures against cyberattacks. Progress in autonomous driving should be made, for example, through the joint development of high-resolution 3D maps and technologies for measuring distances to vehicles, objects and pedestrians. The joint research should also reduce costs. Record profits and investment plans The state also wants to help secure talent. A new set of rules should be created by autumn that will also enable companies and start-ups outside the automotive industry to train engineers for the relevant technologies. So far, the labor market in Japan has not been very permeable because companies train their apprentices specifically for their own needs. Once you start working for one of the large corporations, you often stay there for life. “The value of mobility is moving away from just transporting people and goods towards transporting data and energy,” said Toyota boss Koji Sato recently of its annual figures and emphasized that the world’s top-selling car manufacturer wants to invest more money in the development of artificial intelligence and software in the future. The group wants to invest a total of 1.7 trillion yen (10 billion euros) in future technologies. “Simply not enough.” The other large Japanese car manufacturers are also currently spending a lot of money in order to compete with new competitors from America and China Losing connection. The record profits that they have achieved in the past two years, also with the help of the cheap yen, are helping them. Honda has just doubled its planned investments in electromobility and new technologies by 2031 compared to previous plans to 10 trillion yen ($65 billion). 2 trillion yen alone will flow into the development of new software. “The sum we decided on two years ago is simply not enough,” said Honda boss Toshihiro Mibe.More on the subjectCompetitors Honda and Nissan initiated an unusual cooperation a few weeks ago. Mibe and Nissan boss Makoto Uchida announced at a joint press conference that they wanted to examine the joint development of new electric motors in order to be faster and cheaper in this field and to be able to catch up with Tesla and the new Chinese competitors. “We can no longer fight according to the known rules given the rapid change in the industry,” said Mibe. And Uchida added: “The slower we are, the stronger our competitors become – and the harder it becomes for us to keep up with them.”
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