Toyota Motor Corp unveiled its Woven Planet research unit at a virtual media event on Friday, promising to deliver the world’s “safest mobility” as competition heats up to develop self-driving and connected cars.
As traditional automakers face competition from the likes of Apple, Amazon and Sony, Toyota is looking to marry Woven Planet’s Silicon Valley approach with its storied Toyota Production System manufacturing process to develop the next generation of cars.
Led by ex-Google roboticist James Kuffner, Woven Planet also says it has the advantage of scale in collecting data – key to developing artificial intelligence-aided software – through the tens of millions of Toyota cars on the road worldwide. Toyota retook the crown as world’s best-selling automaker in 2020, unseating Volkswagen AG.
Read the article at Reuters.