Toyota banks on mobility technology for future growth

Japanese automaker Toyota is revving up acquisitions successful mobility technology, adding Renovo Motors Inc., a Silicon Valley bundle developer, to its Woven Planet team, which is moving connected automated driving.

The addition, announced Tuesday, follows the acquisition earlier this twelvemonth of CARMERA Inc., a U.S. task that specializes successful blase roadworthy mapping updates made cheaper and faster by utilizing crowdsourced accusation obtained from millions of net-connected Toyota vehicles.

The institution has not disclosed the worth of either deal.

Renovo develops automotive operating systems, which Toyota Motor Corp. sees arsenic indispensable for processing programmed vehicles truthful it tin modulation to what it calls "a mobility company" that includes much than conscionable cars. Renovo means "new life" oregon "renew" successful Latin.

Renovo's data-management level enables automakers to continuously larn from their vehicles, utilizing a alleged "complete loop" approach, truthful vehicles tin go safer and much reliable.

"In Woven Planet and Toyota, we've recovered partners committed to doing precisely what we person ever wanted to do, connected a planetary scale, and that's a large feeling," said Renovo Chief Executive Christopher Heiser.

Woven Planet, Toyota's wholly owned subsidiary, earlier acquired San Francisco-based Lyft's self-driving part Level 5. Chief Executive James Kuffner said much acquisitions whitethorn beryllium coming.

"The large representation is Woven Planet creating a 'dream team' of bundle and conveyance engineering radical globally to present the world's programmable and safest mobility. That's the context," helium told The Associated Press.

"Always arsenic an executive, you are trying to equilibrium the velocity and the maturation versus the absorption and maintaining institution culture. The larger you grow, the hazard is that you dilatory down," helium said.

"We volition support growing, but we are going to beryllium careful."

Kuffner declined remark connected an caller mishap astatine the Paralympics Athletes Village successful Tokyo, erstwhile a Toyota autobus equipped with automated driving exertion bumped into a Paralympian jock and injured him. The mishap is inactive nether probe and whitethorn beryllium an illustration of the kinds of hurdles to beryllium flooded earlier the exertion tin beryllium wide utilized connected nationalist roads.

The autobus isn't approved for wide usage connected public roads but was shuttling athletes and officials astatine the Village during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. A quality operator was connected the vehicle arsenic a information precaution. President Akio Toyoda has apologized and promised improvements.

Major automakers are moving connected assorted driving technologies. Vehicles of electrical car shaper Tesla Inc. equipped with its Autopilot driver-assist strategy person been successful respective crashes, including fatal ones, successful the U.S.

Some analysts accidental companies should debar suggesting cars sold contiguous with specified technology tin safely thrust themselves.

Woven Planet, known antecedently arsenic Toyota Research Institute, is moving connected technologies spanning "smart" cities, green energy and mobility solutions and robotics that are meant to yet go user products, said Kuffner, who has worked connected Google's self-driving cars and robots astatine Boston Dynamics.

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