Toyota have come to an agreement with Uber to jointly develop self-driving cars. The Japanese carmaker will reportedly invest $500 million as part of the deal.
Toyota have stated this partnership will see the "mass-production" of autonomous vehicles, using technology from both companies. The Toyota-made cars will then become part of Uber's ride-sharing network.
So far Uber have suffered a series of setbacks in their own efforts to develop driverless vehicles, including, a fatal accident in the US. The partnership with Toyota, (whom have also suffered setbacks) will see the two companies join forces in an attempt to catch up with rivals.
The vehicles, will be based on Toyota's Sienna minivan. Both parties have agreed they will be operated by a "mutually agreed-upon third-party autonomous fleet operators".
Shigeki Tomoyama, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation, said:
"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."
Toyota and Uber are both seemingly for behind in the autonomous vehicle's industry. Uber have scaled back operations since the fatal crash happened back in March, when a self-driving SUV killed a pedestrian.
This deal with Toyota may just provide them the help they need to get back on track. While the deal also represents a fantastic opportunity for Toyota.
It has been reported that on top of the fatal crash and the very expensive lawsuit, Uber have also been sinking between $1-$2 million per day into their autonomy research.
Currently the industry leader is Waymo whom is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc.
Toyota are drastically trying to catch up with industry leaders, as they too believe the autonomous vehicles industry is the future of the roads.
Shares in Toyota spiked following the reports, seemingly investors and analysts agree with the two companies in their belief at how large the autonomous vehicles industry will become.
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