Toyota acquires software company Lenovo to accelerate autonomous driving technology development

File Photo: The Toyota logo will appear on the hood of the newly launched Kamuri hybrid electric vehicle at a hotel in New Delhi, India, on January 18, 2019. REUTERS / Anushree Fadnavis

September 28, 2021

Tim Kelly

Tokyo (Reuters) -Toyota Motor’s Silicon Valley research division said Thursday that it had acquired car operating system software company Renovo to accelerate the development of fully autonomous connected cars.

“I want to reduce the time to launch the minimum viable product by years and months,” James Kafner, head of Toyota’s Woven Planet subsidiary, said in a press conference. ..

The long-term goal is to design software and operating systems that other automakers will also use, a former Google robot engineer added.

Toyota is competing with other established car companies and new rivals such as Tesla and Amazon to manufacture cars that operate without drivers and can share data within a connected network. Some self-driving cars are already available, but their autonomy is primarily limited to parking and driving on the highway.

Toyota deployed self-driving cars at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and demonstrated its self-driving technology. It had to be temporarily shut down, but after one of them attacked and injured a Paralympic athlete, https: //www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-halts- all-self-driving-e-pallete-vehicles -after-olympic-village-accident-2021-08-27 Toyota’s chief Akio Toyoda stated that he showed the technical challenges of self-driving cars.

Based in the United States, Renovo has designed an automotive operating system that allows you to manage your automotive system and sort and filter the information you share, such as data that helps automakers improve their automotive design.

The latest acquisition by Woven Planet came after the acquisition of Carmera in August. This is a US company that provides real-time, high-resolution maps and data for self-driving cars.

Toyota established Woven Planet in January with the goal of investing in and developing artificial intelligence mobility.

A major Japanese automaker has also said it is building a “future city”, Woven City, at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan, and Toyota will use hydrogen fuel cells for power to become a laboratory for self-driving cars. ..

Earlier this year, Toyota purchased Lyft Inc’s self-driving technology unit for ride-haling services for $ 550 million and invested in Ridecell, which provides automation for the fleet business.

Other self-driving partnerships include a joint venture with SoftBank Corp and a stake in Didi Global Inc in China and Grab in Singapore.

(Report by Tim Kelly, edited by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)