Tokyo, Japan, October 26, 2010 - NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Norio Otsuka) and Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; Director, President and CEO: Norio Sasaki) are pleased to announce their formation of a joint venture, ADTech Corporation, to develop an automotive steering system, and the commencement of the joint venture's activities.
Together with the progress of the transition to electric and hybrid vehicles, which has been the catalyst for fundamental changes in automotive technology, there has also been a rapid growth in the need for electrically-power assisted steering systems. Such systems are also increasingly required to offer higher levels of safety and reliability, and to be compact and to reduce their power requirements.
In order to accommodate this changing business environment in the automotive steering field, NSK and Toshiba established ADTech Corporation on September 30, 2010, and this joint venture has since entered full operation. The joint venture's objective is the effective development of an automotive steering system that fuses NSK's experience in electronic, mechanical, and other in-car safety technologies with Toshiba's advanced electronics and software technologies.