Softbank and Toyota-backed mobility venture gains five more automakers

MONET Technologies, a joint venture launched by Softbank and Toyota to provide on-demand mobility services eventually with an autonomous module bus, has five new partners.

Five Japanese automakers including Isuzu Motors, Suzuki Motor Corp., Subaru, Daihatsu and Mazda will each invest 2% in the venture. Softbank and Toyota each own 35% of the company. Honda and Toyota’s truck-making unit Hino each have 10% ownership.

The venture launched in September aims to launch an on-demand mobility service with buses and cars in Japan next year. Toyota’s autonomous vehicles — based on its e-palette vehicle that debuted at CES 2018 — will eventually become a central piece of the service.

The e-Palette electric vehicle has a modular interior that is designed to allow for it to be used for a variety of services including shuttling people, packages, even mobile food preparation.

monet-softbank-self-driving

The venture involves more than simply investing capital. The automakers are also sharing data. Datasets are essential to build a mobility-as-a-service platform with autonomous vehicles, according to MONET President and CEO Junichi Miyakawa.

Earlier this year, Toyota began piloting an on-demand bus service that lets people order a ride via an app. The pilot was being conducted in the Ohara district within Toyota City. The venture also conducted a demonstration project involving a multi-purpose shuttle for Fukuyama-shi Hattori school district.



from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2ZVAZcG
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Autonomation

Image
“Jidoka” is a new one to me. TRI (Toyota Research Institute) CEO Gill Pratt described the concept as “Automation with a Human Touch.” The anglicized version of the notion is “Autonomation” — both are modified forms of “ automation,” in their respective languages. The word was originally applied to Toyota’s Production System, highlighting the need for human participation in the process. Quoting from Toyota here: Employing Jidoka principles throughout the production process is a vital element of the Toyota Production System, forcing imperfections to be immediately addressed by self-inspecting workers and thereby reducing the amount of work added to a defective product. Some automated machines can also function in the detection process, allowing human operatives to only be engaged when alerted to a problem. It’s a nice sentiment — a kind of harmony between robots and humans that ultimately plays to their respective strengths. There is, of course, a very real question of how fundamen
Read more

Tesla’s Dojo, a timeline

Elon Musk doesn’t want Tesla to be just an automaker. He wants Tesla to be an AI company, one that’s figured out how to make cars drive themselves.  Crucial to that mission is Dojo, Tesla’s custom-built supercomputer designed to train its Full Self-Driving (FSD) neural networks. FSD isn’t actually fully self-driving; it can perform some […] © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/9uhRcnY via IFTTT
Read more

Time for moderation?

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen made it clear that while he was keen on buying Convoy because of the "incredible tech stack" it built, he wasn't buying its strategy. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/oB8wO3Q via IFTTT
Read more