NAGOYA (Kyodo) — Toyota Motor Corp. will join an open software platform for autonomous vehicles led by China’s Baidu Inc. to accelerate its development of self-driving technologies, including intelligent brake systems critical to self-driving vehicles.
Toyota has been conducting its autonomous vehicle development mainly at an artificial intelligence research unit in California while seeking to build a framework of cooperation with other companies through a joint venture with SoftBank Group Corp.
More than 100 companies are taking part in the Baidu-led consortium including Honda Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co.
Toyota has been aggressively expanding its partnership with companies developing self-driving technologies. It announced a plan earlier in the year to invest in Uber Technologies Inc.’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary.
Other sources have said recently that Toyota is considering providing self-driving technologies to ride-hailing firms.
