Toyota has recently invested $500 million in Uber, and announced Monday that it would expand its collaboration with the ride-sharing company.
The carmaker’s goal is to advance and bring to market its “autonomous ride-sharing as a mobility service at scale.”
“Combining efforts with Uber, one of the predominant global ride-sharing and automated driving R&D companies, could further advance future mobility,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, executive vice president, TMC, and president, Toyota Connected Company. “This agreement and investment marks an important milestone in our transformation to a mobility company as we help provide a path for safe and secure expansion of mobility services like ride-sharing that includes Toyota vehicles and technologies.”
Both companies will offer technology that will be integrated into “purpose-built” Toyota vehicles: Uber will integrate its driverless technology alongside Toyota’s Guardian system, on the vehicles, which will then be deployed on Uber’s ride-sharing network.
“Uber’s automated driving system and Toyota’s Guardian system will independently monitor the vehicle environment and real-time situation, enhancing overall vehicle safety for both the automated driver and the vehicle,” said Dr. Gill Pratt, Toyota Research Institute CEO and TMC Fellow. “We look forward to this partnership accelerating both companies’ development and deployment of automated driving technology.”
