Japan’s Toyota Motor venture to spend $2.8 billion to develop self-driving technology

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. said a new venture would be investing more than $2.8 billion to develop automated-driving software — the latest salvo in an increasingly frenetic battle to be ahead in a sector hit by a slew of disruptive technologies.

The Tokyo-based venture, which will bring together some 1,000 employees including new hires, will be 90% held by Toyota with group suppliers Denso Corp. and Aisin Seiki Co. each taking 5%.

“This company’s mission is to accelerate software development in a more effective and disruptive way, by augmenting the Toyota Group’s capability through the hiring of worldclass software engineers,” James Kuffner, who will lead the venture, said in a statement.

The establishment of the new venture, Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, comes as firms such as Alphabet, Inc.’s Waymo and Tesla, Inc. give traditional automakers a run for their money in building self-driving and electric cars.

English is set to be the main business language of the new venture, the statement said.

Toyota is also investing $1 billion in artificial intelligence and other technologies through its US-based Toyota Research Institute, and has struck up technology partnerships with Microsoft Corp. and Uber Technologies.

Last month, Toyota Research Institute’s venture capital unit said it was co-leading an $11.5-million seed investment in May Mobility, an Ann Arbor-based start-up that is developing self-driving shuttles for college campuses, central business districts and similar low-speed applications. —