Toyota and SoftBank combine for on-demand vehicles and autonomous driving

The Japanese giants Toyota and SoftBank have formed a joint venture that will combine Toyota vehicles with SoftBank software.

The company, endowed with 2 billion yen ($ 17.5 million), named Monet Technologies, will be created in April 2019 and headed by Junichi Miyakawa, CTO of SoftBank. SoftBank will hold a 50.25% stake in this project, the remainder going to Toyota. The companies said Monet will receive 10 billion yen of capital in the future.

Monet will initially be responsible for creating just-in-time vehicle dispatch services for Japanese agencies and government companies, the pair said.

The company also has the ambitious goal of creating an autonomous mobility business as a service utilizing the Toyota e-Palette electric vehicle by the "mid-2020s".

"Opportunities include" just in time "mobility services, demand-driven, such as a meal delivery vehicle where food is prepared during travel, hospital shuttles where medical exams on board may be carried out, [and] mobile offices, "said the companies.

Monet will focus first on Japan before developing elsewhere and will "coordinate" the automotive giant's mobility services platform with SoftBank's Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

Toyota unveiled the e-Palette at CES in January, claiming that it would be useful for use-on-demand cases for retail experiences, personal stores, markets, movie theaters, and movie theaters. Exposure and office sharing when traveling to and from the workplace.

The Japanese auto giant has formed an electronic alliance including Amazon, DiDi, Uber, Pizza Hut and Mazda.

"My goal is to move Toyota from a car company to a mobility company," said Toyota President Akio Toyoda.

"We are moving from software to the platform (…) This is the platform that will serve as a basis for mobility as a service, autonomy, carpooling, for all the services we want make it possible. "

Already this year, Toyota has signed a 300 billion yen partnership, dubbed Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, alongside Aisin Seiki and Denso.

Last month, the Packet duo, owned by SoftBank, and the US Telecom Sprint teamed up to create the Curiosity IoT management platform.

Sprint is merging with T-Mobile for a $ 26 billion transaction.

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