You thought Canon would only do cameras? No! Digital camera giant Canon has also announced its entry into the automotive industry. On January 16, several media reported that Canon announced that the company was seeking a new business type and said that it would use optical lens technology to manufacture automotive cameras for automotive self-driving systems, implying that Canon was also entering the automotive industry.
According to media reports, Canon has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the open source autonomous driving company Tier IV, the two sides will jointly develop L4 level autonomous driving technology, while Canon will produce special in-vehicle cameras for the company, in addition, Canon will also be involved in the development of driving monitoring system (DMS), which can use cameras to monitor driver behavior in real time, realize fatigue driving reminders and other auxiliary driving functions.
According to public information, Tier IV is a member of Hon Hai Group's MIH Electric Vehicle Alliance, which received a strategic investment of $9 million in 2019, the company plans to launch its own L4 level autonomous driving system in 2022, and after the addition of digital camera giant Canon, the two sides will jointly develop autonomous driving and advanced automatic driving assistance system (ADAS) and other related in-vehicle camera products, which will be reproduced on Tier IV's self-driving vehicles for testing.
As early as 2013, Canon frequently crossed over between different fields, in 2013, Canon acquired the Dutch Ossey Sodium Company and expanded its commercial printing business; in 2014, Canon acquired the video management software company McVision; in 2015, it invested in the acquisition of surveillance camera manufacturer Axis, and in 2016, it also invested 5.9 billion US dollars to acquire Toshiba Medical Equipment Company to enter the medical device industry, and even the medical device industry was crossed by Canon Looking back at the Canon crossover car track, it is actually a no-brainer.
However, the development of Canon, which frequently crosses borders in recent years, is not optimistic, looking at Canon's business development in recent years, the data shows that in terms of operating profit, Canon's operating profit in 2018 was 342.5 billion yen, and its operating profit fell sharply to 110.5 billion yen in 2020; and in terms of net sales, Canon's net sales in 2017 were 4 trillion yen, and in 2020, it directly fell to 3.2 trillion yen (about 178 billion yuan).
In addition, in terms of camera shipments, Canon's global digital camera shipments in 2011 were 115.524 million units, but by 2020, there were less than 9 million units left. According to the latest statistics, global digital camera shipments in November 2021 were only 732536 units, down 29.6% year-on-year and 48.7% lower than In November 2019.
It is worth mentioning that on January 12, Canon issued an announcement announcing the closure of the Zhuhai factory, which showed that due to the sharp shrinkage of the global camera market and the impact of the epidemic, the company's operation was facing unprecedented difficulties. The headquarters is adjusting the overall operating structure of the group and has decided to terminate the company's production.
According to the data, Canon has a total of 15 companies in China, the main business includes printers, machinery and equipment, software development, semiconductor equipment, etc., of which Canon Zhuhai is the only production base of digital cameras, digital cameras, image sensors and lenses in the mainland, and the suspension of the factory also means that Canon has moved camera production out of the Chinese mainland.
In this context, Canon's pursuit of diversified development channels is understandable, but for Canon, the current entry into the automotive industry is still a new business, and this business can not immediately improve Canon's shrinking development, so it is not difficult to predict that in the short term, Canon will still be in a state of continuous decline in performance.
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Used car small fat, post-80s Beijing native, deep ploughing In China's used car industry for 18 years. He has served as the director of the largest used car market in China, the head of the dealer group used car, and the senior vice president of the automotive e-commerce platform. He is currently an expert of China Automobile Dealers Association, deputy secretary-general of Beijing Automobile Circulation Industry Association, founder of Wuche Academy/Used Car Xiao fat, consultant and investment management agency partner of many well-known automobile companies, and senior invited author experts of many automotive media.
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