Panasonic Says Windfall From Autonomous Cars Still Years Away
- Company expects $18 billion in car-related sales by 2019
- President Kazuhiro Tsuga speaks on sidelines at CES Las Vegas
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Self-driving cars may be all the rage, but Panasonic Corp.’s President Kazuhiro Tsuga says it will be years before autonomous systems contribute meaningfully to the company’s bottom line.
Panasonic, which has partnerships with Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Tesla Motors Inc., forecasts sales in the automotive segment will climb to 2.1 trillion yen ($17.8 billion) in the year ending March 2019. Most of that will come from cockpit infotainment systems and car batteries, Tsuga told reporters on the sidelines of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The company estimates about 1.3 trillion yen of automotive revenue in the year ending March 2016, according to its website.