Toyota has announced to expand its collaboration with Uber. This is aimed at advancing and bringing to market autonomous ride-sharing as a mobility service at scale. Uber will integrate its self-driving technology alongside Toyota Guardian technology in specially designed vehicles. The vehicles will be deployed in Uber’s ridesharing network. Both companies have stated that they anticipate that the mass-produced autonomous vehicles will be owned and operated by mutually agreed upon third party autonomous fleet operators. In exclusion to that, TMC will also invest $500 million in Uber.
This project will be called ‘Autono-MaaS’ and in its initial fleet will be based on Toyota’s Sienna platform. The ‘Autono-MaaS’ vehicle will be equipped with Uber’s Autonomous Driving System and the Toyota Guardian automated safety support system. Pilot-scale deployments will begin on the Uber ride-sharing network in 2021. Uber’s automated driving system and Toyota’s Guardian system will independently monitor the vehicle’s environment and real-time situation. This will enhance the overall vehicle safety for both the driver and the vehicle.
