Toyota has announced that it's signed a deal with Waymo, Google's autonomous car and ride-hailing division. The plan is for the two companies to “focus on accelerating the development and deployment of autonomous driving technologies.”
What's Toyota's plan, here?
Toyota has said that its Woven By Toyota - the company's in-house software and digital start-up incubator, which includes Toyota's own Woven City, near Tokyo - will be in on the deal, bringing its expertise in cutting-edge software development.
According to the Japanese car making giant: “This potential partnership is built on a shared vision of improving road safety and delivering increased mobility for all.”
The plan is not merely for Toyota to provide Wyamo with cars - instead, the two companies are going to work together to jointly create “a new autonomous vehicle platform.” As well as that, both will collaborate on how to better integrate autonomous tech into the next-generation of private vehicles, which is a departure for Waymo, which has so far focused more on autonomy for ride-sharing and hailing services.
How big an impact could this deal have?
A major pillar of the deal is Toyota's continued focus on working towards a motoring world with zero accidents, built around the integration of people, vehicles, and traffic infrastructure. Toyota reckons that autonomous tech will play a major role in this journey towards an entirely safe road network. Crucially, Toyota believes that “technologies have the greatest impact when they are made widely accessible” as exemplified by the fact that the company's TSS (Toyota Safety System) tech is standard-fit on most of its vehicles. If Toyota is taking the same view when it comes to autonomous technology, that could represent a major breakthrough in the potential affordability of such systems.
Waymo is seen as the current global leader in autonomous tech, and it has logged tens of millions of kilometres of real-world autonomous car testing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. According to Wyamo's data, its robotic vehicles are involved in 81 per cent fewer injury-causing crashes compared to a human benchmark. The company is currently working on software that would mimic a 'generalisable driver', which could be applied to lots of different vehicles and driving scenarios.
'An important step towards the future'
Hiroki Nakajima, Member of the Board and Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation, emphasised the significance of this collaboration, stating, "Toyota is committed to realising a society with zero traffic accidents and becoming a mobility company that delivers mobility for all. We share a strong sense of purpose and a common vision with Waymo in advancing safety through automated driving technology, and we are confident this collaboration can help bring our solutions to more people around the world, moving us one step closer to a zero-accident society. Our companies are taking an important step toward a future with greater safety and peace of mind for all.”
Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO at Waymo, also emphasised the impact of this collaboration, stating: "Waymo's mission is to be the world's most trusted driver. This requires global partners like Toyota that share our commitment to improving road safety and expanding accessible transportation. We look forward to exploring this strategic partnership, incorporating their vehicles into our ride-hailing fleet and bringing the magic of Waymo's autonomous driving technology to Toyota customers."