Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Development Bank of Japan, DENSO Corporation, Japan Radio Co., Ltd., and Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. today announced that they will establish a new company named Global Positioning Augmentation Service Corporation (GPAS) on June 15, 2017 in the form of a joint investment.

Recently, high-precision positioning information is increasingly used in fields such as agriculture, construction, and disaster prevention. Demand for such information is expanding worldwide for both land-based and maritime applications. In Japan, Michibiki No.2 (Quasi-Zenith Satellite) was successfully launched on June 1, 2017 and is expected to generate diverse services using high-precision positioning information.

Within a few years, GPAS aims to commercialize a service for centimeter-level precision global satellite positioning through verification testing utilizing a high-precision orbit and clock analysis tool. Seeking the cooperation of relevant authorities and businesses, GPAS will work to establish a fundamental technology that supports the global deployment of autonomous vehicles and agricultural/construction machinery, in addition to maritime and meteorological observation applications.

As the nature of this project contributes to strengthening corporate competitiveness through cross-industry collaboration, Development Bank of Japan is investing in GPAS under a special financing program for supporting the competitiveness of growing companies and industries.

DENSO Corp., headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, is a leading global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electronics and information and safety. Its customers include all the world's major carmakers. Worldwide, the company has more than 200 subsidiaries and affiliates in 38 countries and regions (including Japan) and employs more than 150,000 people. Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, totaled US$40.4 billion. Last fiscal year, DENSO spent 9.0 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development. DENSO common stock is traded on the Tokyo and Nagoya stock exchanges. For more information, go to www.denso.com, or visit our media website at www.denso.com/global/en/news/media-center/