Toyota and Softbank jointly invest $1 billion in Uber’s self-driving technology

Toyota, Denso and the SoftBank Vision Fund are jointly investing $1 billion in Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group, the unit of Uber that develops technology for self-driving cars. Denso makes auto parts and is owned by Toyota.

Toyota reports that under the deal, Toyota and Denso will jointly invest $667 million and the remaining $333 million will come from Softbank. The purpose of the investment is to accelerate the development and commercialization of the automated rideshare services, the companies said. As part of the deal, Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group business will be moved further away from the parent company; ATG will become a separate legal entity, although it will still remain associated with Uber. With this investment, ATG is valued at $7.25 billion.

It is not the first time that Toyota has invested significant amounts in Uber. The Japanese manufacturer already did that in August last year with an amount of 500 million dollars. As part of that deal, Uber’s self-driving technology was integrated into Toyota Sienna minivans. These should eventually become part of Uber’s ride-hailing network. In 2016, Toyota also invested $300 million in Uber. Until now, Uber has used Volvo XC90 SUVs as a platform for developing technology for autonomously driving cars, but it is likely that Toyota Sienna cars will also be used for this in the long term.

The Advanced Technologies Group is still nowhere near profitability; last year the company lost 3 billion dollars and offering rides to passengers is not yet an issue. The latter is partly related to a fatal accident last year, in which a Volvo SUV from Uber was involved. A pedestrian was killed. The state of Arizona, where the accident happened, banned further Uber testing.

Toyota Sienna