SoftBank, Toyota autonomous car venture to launch in South-East Asia next year

By REUTERS | 11 June 2019


A mock of self-driving car e-Palette is displayed at a news conference by Monet Technologies Inc, in Tokyo. — Reuters


TOKYO: The self-driving car joint venture of SoftBank Corp and Toyota Motor plans to begin operating in South-East Asia next year, in its first overseas foray, its chief executive said today.

Monet, which is developing an on-demand self-driving service platform, is planning to export a basic version of the system, said chief executive Junichi Miyakawa.

"Our first step will likely be to South-East Asia, as applications like transportation services in smart cities, or airport shuttle systems," Miyakawa said, adding that Monet could begin introducing such services in 2020.

Monet is the first-ever alliance between Japan's No. 3 telco and its largest automaker. SoftBank Corp, a unit of investment behemoth SoftBank Group Corp, is the largest shareholder in the venture, which was announced last October, with a 40.2% share, while Toyota owns 39.8%.

Honda Motor Co and Toyota's truck making subsidiary Hino Motors took a roughly 10% stake each in the venture in March, and Miyakawa said that it would soon take more investment from the domestic auto industry.

"We're planning to announce an expansion in our stakeholders sometime this month," he said.

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