uber and toyota self-driving development
Toyota Motor has partnered with Uber Technologies to develop self-driving vehicles. Credit: Rikki Ward Photography.

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor has teamed up with American ride-sharing company Uber Technologies to develop self-driving vehicles and bring autonomous ride-sharing as a mobility service to the market.

As part of the collaboration, Uber will integrate its self-driving technology together with Toyota Guardian technology into purpose-built Toyota vehicles to be used on Uber’s ride-sharing network.

To further boost its partnership, Toyota has decided to invest $500m in Uber.

Toyota Connected Company president Shigeki Tomoyama said: “Combining efforts with Uber, one of the predominant global ride-sharing and automated driving R&D companies, could further advance future mobility.

“Our goal is to deploy the world’s safest self-driving cars on the Uber network, and this agreement is another significant step towards making that a reality.”

“This agreement and investment marks an important milestone in our transformation to a mobility company as we help provide a path for safe and secure expansion of mobility services like ride-sharing that includes Toyota vehicles and technologies.”

The initial autonomous mobility as a service (Autono-MaaS) fleet will be based on Toyota’s Sienna Minivan platform.

Uber’s Autonomous Driving System and the Toyota Guardian automated safety support system will later be combined with the Autono-MaaS vehicles.

The Japanese car firm will use Mobility Services Platform (MSPF), its core information infrastructure for connected vehicles.

Piloting of the autonomous driving programme on the US company’s ride-sharing network is scheduled to commence in 2021.

The cars would be ultimately owned and used by third-party autonomous fleet operators.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said: “Our goal is to deploy the world’s safest self-driving cars on the Uber network, and this agreement is another significant step towards making that a reality.

“Uber’s advanced technology and Toyota’s commitment to safety and its renowned manufacturing prowess make this partnership a natural fit.”