Honda, Hitachi to announce business partnership

Tokyo: Honda Motor and Hitachi Automotive Systems plan to announce a business partnership on Tuesday afternoon in Tokyo, amid a wave of alliances between carmakers and companies developing environmentally friendly and autonomous driving technologies.
Honda Chief Executive Officer Takahiro Hachigo is scheduled to meet the press with Hitachi Automotive CEO Hideaki Seki on the afternoon of Feb. 7, Honda said in an e-mail, without giving more details.
Carmakers are forging partnerships amid pressure from regulators and rising costs for developing cleaner vehicles and self-driving cars. Toyota Motor and Suzuki Motor on Monday signed an agreement to undertake a "concrete examination” of a business partnership. Honda last month said it will jointly manufacture fuel-cell systems with General Motors Co.
Tokyo-based Hitachi Automotive, established in 2009, is a subsidiary of the conglomerate Hitachi. The company sells engine management and drive control systems along with car information systems. Development projects at the company include electric-vehicle and autonomous driving technologies, such as a driverless parking system with Clarion Co., another Hitachi subsidiary, Hitachi Auto said on its website.
Honda said in December it is talking to Waymo, the autonomous-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, about possibly using its self-driving technology in cars. Honda previously announced plans to start selling self-driving cars capable of operating on highways sometime around 2020.
Honda rose 1.5 per cent to 3,545 yen as of 1:17pm in Tokyo, while Clarion rose 1.4 per cent after earlier jumping as much as 8.5 per cent, the biggest intraday gain in two months.