Toyota Motor Corp. has invested $400 million in Chinese autonomous driving technology startup Pony.ai to expand their cooperation in self-driving vehicle development to mobility services, the two companies said Wednesday.
The investment comes after the companies announced their tie-up in August last year, jointly testing an autonomous driving system on Toyota's Lexus luxury brand vehicles in China.
"In addition to co-developing autonomous driving technology, Pony.ai and Toyota will look beyond the vehicle itself to explore further possibilities in mobility services," Poni.ai said in a statement.
Pony.ai was founded in 2016 with its development bases in China and California.
==Kyodo
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