Toyota and Waymo Partner to Accelerate Self-Driving Technology Development

Toyota Motor and Alphabet's Waymo announced on Wednesday that they will consider collaborating on the development of a new autonomous vehicle platform as well as ways to improve next-generation personally owned vehicles.

Toyota will build the platform, which will be used in Waymo's self-driving vehicle fleet, according to a spokesperson. The companies will also look into how they can use Waymo's AV technology to benefit Toyota, according to the spokesperson.

In a joint statement, Toyota and Waymo stated that they intend to accelerate the development and adoption of driver assistance and automated driving technologies for POVs.

The companies stated that they will discuss the possibility of expanding the scope of their collaboration, and that Toyota's autonomous driving technology unit Woven by Toyota will participate.

Through alliances with automakers like Hyundai and Zeekr as well as other companies like ride-hailing startup Uber, Waymo has been concentrating on growing its footprint.The spokesperson stated that the plans with Zeekr and Hyundai have not changed.

Last week, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai hinted that Waymo's self-driving taxis might eventually be available for private ownership.

In order to map important areas of the Japanese capital and better understand local infrastructure and driving patterns, Waymo, which was spun off from Google in 2016, started gathering data in Tokyo earlier this month with human-driven test rides.

Toyota's Woven division is developing an automotive software platform, Arene, and establishing a testing site for mobility-related systems and services in Shizuoka Prefecture, west of Tokyo.