Panasonic Hopes To Expand Partnership With Tesla

Electronics manufacturer Panasonic wants to expand its relationship with Tesla to include hardware like external sensors, according to a report from Reuters. In an interview, Panasonic CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga said the company was interested in furthering its partnership with the automotive company.

"We are deeply interested in Tesla's self-driving system," Tsuga told Reuters. "We are hoping to expand our collaboration by jointly developing devices for that, such as sensors."

Right now, Panasonic is the sole supplier of batteries for Tesla vehicles including the Model S and Model X. In recent years, the company has made a major pivot towards the automotive component market. As TechCrunch notes, CMOS sensors are a major component in self-driving functionality, because they are one of several parts that allow the car to detect external events. Panasonic is also working on sensors that could operate at higher speeds without suffering from distorted imagery.

Panasonic’s partnership with Tesla has also extended to other areas. In early January, Tesla’s Gigafactory started production of batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada. The 1.9 million-square foot facility will focus on production of the “2170 cell” for its cars. While the construction and launch of the factory is in a rolling process, the Gigafactory is slated to be fully operational by 2018. Last year, the two companies also announced a partnership to develop photovoltaic cells and other solar hardware at Tesla’s facility in Buffalo, New York. Production at the factory is slated to begin in summer 2017.