Prior to this, Sony had already invested in ZMP, which at that time it was assumed that Sony was interested in their self-driving car technology, so the decision to go with drones is an interesting one. That being said, we guess this could be seen as a natural progression in both company’s relationship.
The result of their partnership is a new company called Aerosense Inc. According to Sony, “Sony’s camera, sensing, telecommunications network, and robotics technologies will be leveraged alongside ZMP’s automated driving and robotics technologies together with their business experience in industrial fields.”
It is unclear as to what kind of drones or robots that both companies will be coming up with, but it will be interesting to see Sony’s imaging and telecommunications technology applied to such devices. Like we said, this partnership will result in drones designed for the enterprise, so don’t expect to be able to buy yourself a Sony-branded drone in the future.