Toyota AI Ventures, the investment arm of the Toyota Research Institute, will continue looking for startups to invest in and strengthen its portfolio services.
Uber ATG gets $1B to accelerate toward self-driving car production
Uber’s Advanced Technology Group unit is partnering with Toyota, DENSO, and SoftBank to accelerate development and commercialization of self-driving cars. This deal is the latest in a well-funded race.
Amazon keeps on truckin’ with autonomous vehicle investments
Amazon has moved on as quickly as its same-day deliveries by announcing, almost concurrent with its breakup call to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, more than $1 billion of new funding for electric vehicles and self-driving cars. On Feb. 15, a day after reporting on Amazon’s rejection of New York City as the site for…
Toyota Mobility Unlimited Challenge finalists vie for $1M to aid people with disabilities
Ride-hailing services, electric vehicles, delivery robots, and self-driving cars and trucks are changing transportation at the fastest pace in decades. Toyota Motor Corp. has been a leader among automakers in expanding its focus to personal mobility. The Toyota Mobility Unlimited Challenge is a three-year, $4 million competition for improving mobility for people with disabilities. At…
Driverless investment tops $1.6B so far this month
After last week’s $582 million in funding for autonomous vehicle companies, you might think that driverless investment would coast for a while. However, this week saw more than $1 billion in support for developing self-driving cars and trucks. President’s Day is traditionally the time for car sales, but the automakers and big technology companies are…
Toyota reveals second gen of its self-driving vehicle platform
The Toyota Research Institute demonstrated the latest version of its self-driving vehicle platform, Platform 2.1, on a closed course this week. The first version of the platform was only released in March of this year. “In the last few months, we have rapidly accelerated our pace in advancing Toyota’s automated driving capabilities with a vision…
Toyota, NTT partner to further consumer robot development
Toyota and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation launched joint research to drive the development and use of consumer robots, the companies announced today. The work will focus on using NTT’s AI technology, corevo, and Toyota’s Human Support Robot, which is currently under development, together with the goal of creating robots and other devices that can…
Japanese automakers get in on health robotics
Japanese automakers, including Toyota (NSDQ:ADR), are reportedly turning their focus to robots to help the country’s rapidly aging society. Japan faces dwindling demand for cars and its falling population has yielded labor shortages and pension squeezes. Toyota today launched a rental service for its walk assist system, which helps stroke survivors learn how to walk again.…