cars news 10: Mitsubishi Electric Adapting Missile Technology for Autonomous Cars

Mitsubishi Electric is putting military technology into self-driving cars, according to a new report. These autonomous cars are expected to arrive in the next several years.

The company, which of course is linked to the same Mitsubishi that builds cars, supplies Japan’s armed forces with air-to-air missiles. Mitsubishi’s self-driving vehicles, in turn, will use technologies that were developed to guide missiles. An array of features, including millimeter-wave radars as well as sonars, sensors, and cameras, will help the cars detect obstacles and avoid collisions.

Katsumi Adachi, a senior chief engineer with Mitsubishi, says these self-driving vehicles will be on the road by 2020. “All we have to do is to put together the components that we already have. None of our competitors have such a wide array of capabilities,” he told Bloomberg.

Although other companies have a head start when it comes to self-driving cars, Adachi declares Mitsubishi will do it better. By next year, the company will offer advanced systems that benefit from Mitsubishi’s expertise in high-precision sensors and electric power steering, Adachi claims.

In the year beginning April 2017, Mitsubishi will start producing the components for lane-keeping and automatic braking systems. In the following fiscal year, Mitsubishi could start making automatic parking systems.

We haven’t heard as much about Mitsubishi’s plans for autonomous cars as we have with some other automakers. But at last year’s Tokyo auto show, we saw Mitsubishi bring out the electric eX concept with automated driving technology. To further its goals for autonomous vehicles, Mitsubishi is expanding its satellite network that can send up-to-date location data to vehicles. Three more satellites orbiting over Japan by 2018 will help provide pertinent data to vehicles around the clock.

Meanwhile, the demand for these automated technologies is booming. According to IHS Automotive, the market for driver assistance features like collision warning and auto braking is expected to double in annual revenue by 2021.

Source: Automotive News Europe (Subscription Required)