Toyota to invest $500 million in Uber

FILE – An exterior view of the headquarters of Uber is seen in San Francisco, March 1, 2017. Toyota will sink a half-billion dollars into Uber and work jointly with the ride-hailing giant to develop self-driving vehicles. (Photo courtesy of AP)

Toyota will invest half a billion dollars into ride-sharing giant Uber as part of a deal for the two companies to work together on developing self-driving vehicles.

Toyota, one of the world’s largest car makers, is seen as lagging behind other companies, including General Motors and Google’s Waymo, in the autonomous-vehicle race.

Uber has already begun testing self-driving vehicles, but was forced to remove hundreds of autonomous cars from the road in March after one of its test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian on a street in Tempe, Arizona.

The deal between Uber and Toyota is an indication that Uber does not want to go it alone in creating the complex, autonomous driving systems.

A visitor walks through a Toyota showroom in Tokyo, Aug. 3, 2018.
A visitor walks through a Toyota showroom in Tokyo, Aug. 3, 2018. (Photo courtesy of AP)

Self-driving cars have always been important to Uber, which sees them as a way to reduce the cost of carrying passengers. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick had insisted on developing a proprietary self-driving system, however current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been working to develop more partnerships for the company.

Uber has been doing safety evaluations since the March crash that killed a 49-year-old woman as she walked her bicycle across the street. The company took a step in July toward relaunching its vehicle testing in Pittsburgh, putting its self-driving cars back on the road in manual mode.

Toyota has been cautious in its approach to self-driving vehicles and has focused on partial autonomous systems. However, the company says it plans to begin testing self-driving electric cars around 2020.

Both companies aim to work together to solve the huge challenge of how to design and mass produce self-driving cars, which use computers, cameras and sensors to guide the vehicles.

Proponents of the new technology argue that self-driving cars will prove to be safer than human drivers because the cars will not get distracted and will obey all traffic laws.

Critics have expressed concern about the technology’s safety, including the ability of the autonomous technology to deal with unpredictable events.  Voice of America

Popular

PBBM to order probe into PrimeWater services, says Palace

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos | Philippine News Agency President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will order an investigation into the operations of Villar-owned PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation...

Bringing gov’t service, info to the grassroots: PTV inaugurates regional center in Marawi City

By Brian Campued Continuing its mandate to amplify the government’s commitment to serving the people by reaching every corner of the nation, the People’s Television...

Ishiba seeks continued PH-Japan unity vs coercion in regional waters

By Darryl John Esguerra | Philippine News Agency Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru on Tuesday called for continued coordination between Japan and the Philippines...

OCTA survey ‘validates’ admin’s efforts — PBBM

By Brian Campued The public’s appreciation of the administration’s efforts to address the Filipino people’s needs inspires President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to continue bringing...