DENSO Corp. today announced it has agreed to establish a joint venture with NRI SecureTechnologies Ltd. to detect and diagnose the security risks of in-vehicle electronic products. The new cybersecurity company, named NDIAS Ltd., is equally owned by DENSO and NRI and will be officially established in December 2018.

NDIAS will harness DENSO’s expertise in in-vehicle quality and cybersecurity technology development and NRI’s proprietary machine learning technology to protect consumers against the rising threat of cyber attacks in the automotive industry. NRI has nearly 20 years of experience in security services, in the fields of financial systems, infrastructure and consumer equipment. The partnership will offer integrated security diagnosis and consulting services for in-vehicle electronic products from the vehicle development phase up to the actions required after mass production.

Automated driving and connected vehicles will soon become commonplace and, as a result, various shared technologies and services will be linked within vehicles. Because of this, international standards for automotive cybersecurity requirements must be established due to imminent threats such as hacking, the two companies say.

In Japan, for example, to introduce automated driving by the end of 2020, a review has been conducted to require automakers to implement cybersecurity measures and to enact relevant laws. Starting with development to well after mass production, security diagnosis and analysis must be conducted throughout the vehicle’s lifecycle.

According to DENSO and NRI, new threats in cybersecurity continue to evolve and require assessment and diagnosis by a dedicated and trained third party that understands the minds of the attackers. DENSO and NRI say their new joint venture will underpin the rapidly evolving digitalized automotive industry with its cybersecurity technologies designed to help achieve a safe and secure future of seamless mobility.