Some time ago, when I saw Sony's first electric SUV concept car VISION-S 02 debut, I believe that many "digital fans" have begun to make up for it, Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Nintendo will also step into this field?
It has to be admitted that with the increasing acceptance of new energy vehicles by the public, coupled with policy support, this wave has attracted a number of industry giants to join the car-making army.
Following the well-known mobile phone giant "Huawei"; real estate giant "Evergrande"; Internet giant "Baidu" into the new energy industry, according to media reports, Canon is also planning to find and develop new businesses recently, and will use optical lens technology to manufacture automotive cameras for automotive autonomous driving systems.
Since ancient times, whenever an industry reaches the "ceiling" stage, it wants to go in and try the water in the industry that is on the edge to get a piece of the pie, yamaha is an example. But then again, if you want to stand firm in the new energy automobile industry, strength and huge funds are crucial, if the strength of the entry is average, then it will soon become a test product; if the financial strength is not enough, the road of development will not go very far, so cross-border car manufacturing is not a simple thing.
In fact, for Canon, the announcement of joining the automotive industry is not an accident. As early as 2013, Canon frequently looked for new ways out in different fields; it acquired the Dutch company Osi Sodium and expanded its commercial printing business, in 2014 it acquired the video management software company Maishitong, in 2015 it acquired the surveillance camera manufacturer Axis, and in 2016 it acquired Toshiba Medical Devices to enter the medical device industry. Looking back at Canon's current entry into the automotive industry, Canon's operation can be said to be a normal thing.
Although on the surface, Canon can develop in many areas, it also confirms that Canon's core business development in recent years is not optimistic. According to the data, Canon's operating profit in 2018 was 342.5 billion yen, and by 2020, its operating profit fell seriously to 110.5 billion yen, and in terms of camera shipments, there were less than 9 million units left in 2020, and in November 2021, the global digital camera shipments were only 732536 units, down 29.6% year-on-year.
In addition, according to a recent online exposure of an announcement about Canon Zhuhai announcing the closure of the production line. According to the announcement, due to the sharp shrinkage of the global camera market and the epidemic, the company is currently facing unprecedented difficulties, so the headquarters has to adjust the overall operating structure of the group, and propose to employees a preferential treatment plan for terminating the labor contract by consensus.
In this context, for Canon, seeking multi-channel development is indeed a matter of reproach, and the current field of new energy vehicles is a brand new business, this business is full of unknowns and possibilities, so it is not difficult to predict that there may be more companies pouring into the industry in the future.
Recently, it was learned from relevant sources that the open source autonomous driving company Tier IV and Canon signed a memorandum of cooperation, the two sides will jointly develop L4 level autonomous driving technology, and will produce special in-vehicle cameras for Tier IV. According to the data, Tier IV is a member of Hon Hai Group's MIH Electric Vehicle Alliance, a start-up from Japan focused on autonomous driving technology, and the company plans to launch its own L4 level autonomous driving system in 2022.
The world's first open source software for autonomous driving, Autoware, was developed by their family, a Linux and ROS-based system with all the functions needed for fully autonomous driving with sensor information such as lidar, cameras and GNSS. In this strategic partnership, Canon will be responsible for designing, manufacturing and supplying high-performance camera products for the Tier IV. As can be seen, Canon announced late last year that it has developed a new SPAD sensor that can also take high-quality color images in dark environments, which has a light receiving element of 3.2 million pixels and can also determine the distance to a given object based on the time it takes for light to propagate to a given object, reflect and then return. Therefore, it is expected that Canon will most likely launch this driving system.
Canon will also be involved in the development of a driver monitoring system (DMS), which can use cameras to monitor driver behavior in real time, monitor driver fatigue and a variety of driver assistance functions. Therefore, jointly developed by Canon and Tier IV, Tier IV will bring disruptive innovations to autonomous driving technology and change people's car habits.
summary
Huawei said before that we will never build cars, but now we have joined forces to build cars and car-making programs, and we have set up a car brand, from "absolutely no car" to "no happy", we can see that behind Huawei, there are still many companies that have changed their strategic layout.
Not only are technology companies actively involved in the manufacture of electric smart cars, but even the traditional automotive industry has joined the ranks of electric smart cars. It can be seen that electric intelligent vehicles have become the future development trend, and technology companies just hold intelligent technology, so in the field of new energy, when the next competitor will appear, no one can predict, in general, it is still necessary to rely on themselves to create a strong product strength model, in line with the tastes and needs of consumers, in line with the market demand of the model is the top priority. Do you think Canon has a piece of the car industry? Feel free to leave your insights.