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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 8 october 2018

Toyota, SoftBank setting up mobility services joint venture

By YURI KAGEYAMA in the race to develop the
AP Business Writer next-generation of trans-
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's No. portation, such as self-driv-
1 automaker Toyota Motor ing cars.
and technology giant Soft- Earlier this week, Toyota's
Bank Group are setting up Japanese rival Honda Mo-
a joint venture to create tor Co. said it was investing
mobility services in what $2.75 billion in GM Cruise,
they called a "united Ja- an autonomous-vehicle
pan" effort to face global unit run by General Motors
competition. Co. of the U.S.
The 2 billion yen ($20 mil- Softbank is also an inves-
lion) venture, Monet Tech- tor in GM Cruise. Uber has
nologies Corp. is meant to announced a partnership
be running by the end of with Toyota. Other autono-
March. mous-drive partnerships in-
It will work on on-demand clude BMW with Fiat Chrys-
vehicle services, food de- ler, chipmaker Intel and
liveries, data analysis and visual recognition software
hospital shuttles with on- maker Mobileye; and Ger-
board medical exams, the man automaker Daimler
companies said Thursday AG with supplier Bosch to
in a news conference at a develop autonomous taxis.
Tokyo hotel. Representative Director and CTO of SoftBank Corp. Junichi Miyakawa, left and Executive Vice Google's Waymo in the U.S.
"Many of you here may President of Toyota Motor Corporation Shigeki Tomoyama, right, shake hands during a press con- plans to put autonomous
be asking why Toyota and ference in Tokyo Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. vehicles on the road in a
SoftBank?" Toyota Chief Ex- Associated Press ride-sharing service in the
ecutive Akio Toyoda said Arm, a leader in the Inter- automaker on mobility and It's 50.25 percent owned by Phoenix area before the
of the odd-couple union of net of Things, or IoT. artificial intelligence, his SoftBank, 49.75 percent by end of this year. U.S. elec-
an old-style manufacturer Toyoda stressed the auto company's expertise. Toyota. tric-car maker Tesla is also
with a relative newcomer industry was changing in "I'm so excited just thinking Toyota is developing au- developing autonomous
like SoftBank. an era of connected cars, about it," he said, appear- tonomous vehicles in time vehicles. "This may look like
The energy and telecoms autonomous driving, car- ing with Toyoda. The two for the 2020 Tokyo Olym- an unusual combination,"
company's past tie-ups sharing and electric vehi- executives praised each pics and Monet plans to roll said SoftBank's executive
have tended to be with cles. other profusely after the out a business featuring au- in charge of technology,
overseas startups. But Soft- "We want to change," said news conference. tonomous vehicle services Junichi Miyakawa. "But Ja-
bank has also invested in Toyoda. The joint venture's services by the second half of 2020, pan must compete with
leading car-sharing com- SoftBank Chairman Masay- will roll out in Japan first, but they said. the rest of the world. That is
panies like Uber, Didi and oshi Son said he was thrilled a global expansion is in the Automakers around the why we are shaking hands
Grab, and has acquired to be partnering with a top works, the companies said. world are forming tie-ups today."q

Toyota recalls 2.4 million

hybrids due to stalling problems

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Mo- of a crash. to remedy the problem for
tor Corp. says it has issued The recall applies to some free.
a recall for 2.43 million hy- Toyota Prius and Auris hy- The recall applies to 1.25
brid vehicles in Japan and brids made from October million vehicles in Japan,
elsewhere for potential 2008-November 2014. The 807,000 in the U.S., 290,000
problems with stalling. vehicles were involved in in Europe and 3,000 in Chi-
The company said Friday an earlier recall that did na with the rest across the
that in rare cases the ve- not fix the previously unan- globe.
hicles might fail to enter ticipated problem that is Toyota said it had received
a "failsafe" driving mode, being addressed now, the three reports in Japan re-
In this Sept. 13, 2011, file photo, new Toyota Prius hybrid car is lose power and stall. Power company said in a state- lated to the problem by
presented during the press day of the 64th Frankfurt Auto Show steering and braking would ment. the end of September and
in Frankfurt, Germany. still work but a stall at a fast Toyota said it would update reported them to the trans-
Associated Press speed could increase risks the software of the vehicles port ministry. q