Global Times

Toyota to invest $500m in Uber for self-driving cars

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Toyota Motor Corp will invest $500 million in Uber Technologi­es Inc to jointly work on developing self-driving cars, the companies said on Monday, a bid by both to catch up to rivals in the hotly competitiv­e autonomous driving business.

Toyota, one of the world’s largest carmakers, and Uber, the leading ride-hailing service, are widely seen as lagging the competitio­n in developing selfdrivin­g cars.

Their deal deepens an existing relationsh­ip and reflects CEO Dara Khosrowsha­hi’s strategy of Uber developing autonomous vehicles through partnershi­ps, rather than on its own.

The deal also breathes new life into Uber’s self-driving business.

Since a self-driving Uber sport utility vehicle killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March, Uber has removed its robot cars from the road, laid off hundreds of test drivers and shuttered operations in Arizona, its autonomous testing hub.

The investment values Uber at $72 billion, matching the valuation Uber received in a deal with Alphabet Inc self-driving unit Waymo this year.

Uber will combine its autonomous driving system with Toyota’s Guardian technology, which offers automated safety features such as lane-keeping but does not enable a vehicle to drive completely autonomous­ly.

The combined technology will be built into Toyota’s Sienna minivans, to be deployed on Uber’s ride-hailing network starting in 2021, Uber said.

The companies’ aim is to solve the enormously challengin­g problem of how to mass produce self-driving cars for shared fleets, including ride-hailing services.

Jeff Miller, Uber’s head of business developmen­t for strategic initiative­s, said the partnershi­p “really paints the picture of how we envision deploying autonomous technology in the long term.”

That includes licensing its autonomous technology to carmakers and enlisting a third party to own and maintain the fleet.

The third party that will operate the Toyota autonomous fleet has not yet been chosen, Miller said.

For the Japanese automaker, the “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,” Executive Vice President Shigeki Tomoyama said in a statement.

Toyota has been less aggressive than some rivals on moving toward full-fledged autonomous driving, expressing caution about the technology and focusing on partial autonomous systems like Guardian.

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