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SoftBank launches into autonomous car services after the Japanese technology giant announced the creation of a joint venture with Toyota in its native Japan.
SoftBank is invested in Uber and a range of other attractive startups like Didi in China and Grab in Southeast Asia, but this initiative with Toyota is not related to these agreements. Instead, it is designed to combine SoftBank's focus on IoT technology and Toyota's Connected Vehicle Services platform to enable new types of services using autonomous vehicle technologies.
Called MONET – after "mobility network" – the Joint Undertaking will essentially allocate autonomous vehicles to different "just-in-time" services. This just-in-time warning means more than just demand. SoftBank suggests that this means that services are rendered in transit. This could be food prepared during delivery, hospital shuttles hosting medical examinations or mobile offices, according to the examples given by SoftBank.
The plan is to use the electric vehicles of Toyota's battery electronic pallet and begin a rolling process "by the second half of the 2020s". SoftBank said its business would be focused on the Japanese market with market. "
Toyota has made great progress with autonomous vehicles. He launched his autonomous research car 3.0 earlier this year and in March, created a new $ 2.8 billion company focused on developing the required software systems. The latter program is designed to work alongside the Toyota Research Institute, which, supported by a $ 1 billion grant, reinforces the company's autonomous technology strategy.
Toyota is also aligned with Uber on the race. The company has invested $ 500 million in Uber and $ 1 billion in Grab through transactions this year.
Back in January at the CES, Toyota said it was working with Amazon, Uber, Didi, Mazda and Pizza Hut to develop a self-powered electric shuttle that can be used to transport passengers or packages. Business alliances were created to focus on the development of the electronic palette.
SoftBank's autonomous vehicle projects, including a bus it develops in partnership with Chinese Baidu.
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