If latest reports are to be believed, Japanese tech manufacturer Sony is showing keen interest in developing self-driven cars and the recently the electronics giant is said to have invested a whopping 100 million yen ($800,000) in ZMP, a Japanese firm specialized in manufacturing robot cars.

Latin Post quotes a recent report by CNBC saying that Sony is endeavoring to collaborate with ZMP to create a completely new self-driving car. While Sony already has expertise with sensors, ZMP is specialized in robotics. The electronics companies expect to work jointly to compete with Apple and Google, the two U.S. tech giants who are also reported to be working on driver-less cars separately.

Currently, Sony is said to be passing through a lean phase as the sales of its TVs and smartphones have declined remarkable during the recent months. According AutoConnected Car, Sony still has a sizable share of the camera sensor market, and these sensors are very vital as far as cameras are concerned.

While smartphones are sold in huge volumes - more than a 1 billion units every year, while just about 100 cars are sold every year. According to the Latin Post report, these are the figures of the last few years.

On the other hand, cameras in a car are very expensive compared to those in smartphones, and analysts have predicted that about 102 million automotive cameras will be sold by 2020.

A study undertaken by Techno System Research found that currently Sony's sensors comprise about 40 percent of smartphones worldwide. As far as cars are concerned, Sony's censors are only about five percent of cars worldwide.

Therefore, Sony needs to do some catching up. However, the Japanese electronics giant is confident that with their expertise in sensors will help them to successfully develop a self-driving car.

Shoichi Kitayama, Sony's general manager who heads the automotive team said, "We were latecomers in smartphone cameras but we still created this market. Now we can do the same with automotive cameras."

Meanwhile, Sony has announced that it will commence producing image sensors for automotive cameras on a large-scale. These cameras will have the ability to display high-quality color pictures even in the absence of the moon in the sky.