SoftBank Group Corp. and video game-makers are emerging as rare beneficiaries of the weaker yen, which no longer offers the clear advantage to Japan's corporate sector that it did a decade ago. Automakers and electronics-makers including Sony Group Corp. once welcomed a softer yen to bolster their competitiveness abroad and inflate the value of their repatriated profits. But after shifting production overseas in recent years to secure growth and resilient supply chains, many of them see a mixed -- or mostly neutral -- effect from the yen's free fall to 20-year lows, according to industry executives and analysts. For some consumer-facing companies, including Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing Co., the latest slump in the yen is a negative factor, exacerbating the impact of surging raw materials costs and higher energy prices amid Russia's war in Ukraine. "It's no longer the case that the weak yen benefits many firms in the manufacturing sector," Morningstar Research analyst Kazunori Ito said.

General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co. will jointly develop affordable electric vehicles in major global markets, dramatically expanding a partnership that already spans gas-powered models, batteries and self-driving technology. The automakers plan to create a new architecture based on GM's Ultium EV battery that will be used primarily for small crossover SUVs, with the first models available in North America in 2027, they said in a statement Tuesday. The project is intended to produce EVs that will be priced below GM's planned $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox and similar future offerings from Honda, the companies said on a call with journalists. "GM and Honda will share our best technology, design and manufacturing strategies to deliver affordable and desirable EVs on a global scale, including our key markets in North America, South America and China," GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said in the statement. The collaboration marks a major move toward democratizing electric vehicles, most of which are expensive and beyond the reach of many consumers.

Honda Motor Co. long eschewed big strategic alliances, preferring to go it alone even as many of its carmaking peers banded together to improve economies of scale. That's changing now that the Japanese automaker is shifting more aggressively to electric vehicles. "It will be extremely risky for Honda to push the move alone," Chief Executive Officer Toshihiro Mibe said in an interview Tuesday. "It's meaningful to form alliances, mass-produce and lower costs to make our business sustainable." As the world's largest manufacturer of engines, Honda is uniquely exposed to risks posed by combustion falling out of favor around the globe.

Follow me on LinkedIn for writing tips, professional guidance, and occasional entertainment. If you've got ideas for coverage, feedback on my work, or would like to be interviewed for a future article, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter. That's all an engineer from one major Japanese automaker could say after seeing the central control unit for Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) Autopilot technology, extracted during Nikkei Business Publications' recent teardown (an investigative disassembling of tech hardware) of a Model 3. Japanese automakers might not be able to match Tesla's self-driving technological achievements, but that doesn't make Tesla the leader by default. Other companies, most notably Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo unit, have been hard at work on self-driving vehicle technology for years. And while Elon Musk may have the world's attention, Tesla simply doesn't possess as many resources to throw at the self-driving problem as the techies in Mountain View, California.

Five Japanese automakers will join a self-driving technology joint venture formed last year by Toyota Motor Corp. and SoftBank Corp., sources close to the matter said Wednesday. Mazda Motor Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp., Subaru Corp., Isuzu Motor Ltd., and Toyota's minivehicle-making unit Daihatsu Motor Corp. will each buy a stake of less than 10 percent in Monet Technologies Inc., they said. Currently, SoftBank owns 40.2 percent of the joint company, with Toyota holding a 39.8 percent stake. Honda Motor Corp. and Toyota's truck-making subsidiary Hino Motor Ltd. already have a 10 percent stake each in the venture. Monet is developing next-generation mobility services using autonomous driving technology.

Technology companies are racing to develop ultra-precise digital maps that can guide self-driving cars to within inches of where they should be -- a hurdle the industry needs to clear if it hopes to deliver on its promise of widespread use of driverless vehicles. The government is backing a three-dimensional mapping system developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. that includes a wealth of details, such as trees and pedestrians. It promises to be off by no more than 25 cm. That would be a big improvement over satellite-based GPS, which is used by ships, aircraft and increasingly by drivers or those on mobile phones but can be off by up to 20 meters, especially inside buildings or underground. The developers say the improved mapping technology will likely be used first in vehicles in isolated areas such as warehouses, or it might be used to help drivers of vehicles that aren't entirely autonomous.

The transport ministry said Monday it will introduce safety standards for self-driving vehicles in Japan as early as this fall, including an alarm system that sounds 15 seconds after a driver takes his hands off the steering wheel while traveling on a highway. The introduction of the integrated standards is expected to spur the development of self-driving vehicles by Japanese automakers as well as information technology companies as they will make clear the technology necessary for such cars. The safety standards are in line with an agreement reached Friday by a U.N. working party tasked with creating a uniform system of regulations for vehicle design to facilitate international trade. Japanese automakers will be able to sell vehicles that pass domestic safety tests based on the new standards in the European market in the future as the same standards are expected to be introduced there. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will revise relevant ministerial ordinances under the Road Traffic Act in line with the new regulations.