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Uber Getting $1 Billion from Toyota, Others for Self Driving Car Technologies

Uber’s efforts to become the leader of the automated driving technologies sector got a major boost this week, as another major investment was announced by several companies.
Uber get another major investment from Toyota 1 photo
Photo: Uber
There will be $1 billion coming from Toyota, Denso and the SoftBank Vision Fund this year, money that are supposed to aid Uber in accelerating “the development and commercialization of automated ridesharing services.”

Toyota, which has already poured $500 million into Uber last summer, will bring and extra $667 million together with Denso, while the rest of the money will come from Soft Vision Fund. Over the next three years, another $300 million in Toyota funding will head for Uber to help cover the cost of production and sales of automated ridesharing vehicles and the associated services.

In exchange for the money it receives, Uber will form a new corporate entity, using the existing Uber Advanced Technologies Group (Uber ATG) as a basis. The transaction and the establishment of the new company will be closed in the third quarter of the year.

“This investment and our strong partnership with the Toyota Group are a testament to the incredible work of our ATG team to date, and the exciting future ahead for this important project, alongside great partners," said in a statement Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO.

“The development of automated driving technology will transform transportation as we know it, making our streets safer and our cities more livable. Today’s announcement, along with our ongoing OEM and supplier relationships, will help maintain Uber’s position at the forefront of that transformation.”

The huge sums of money being invested in this industry is a testament of how serious auto companies and others are about making autonomous cars a reality, especially in the ridesharing segment.

Toyota, although working on its own set of technologies, has committed to having a network of Uber-branded self-driving cars on the roads in 2021 for trial purposes, using the Sienna as the vehicle of choice.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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