There are many transportation companies that are working towards developing self-driving cars. However many of them seem to be working independently from each other, which admittedly probably isn’t as efficient, although not surprising since we imagine that these companies would want to keep their technological advances a secret.
That being said, it looks like at least two of those companies will be working together, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal (via Engadget), in which it has been suggested that Toyota could invest as much as $500 million into Uber for self-driving related tech. It has been pointed out that Uber’s self-driving unit has been making losses and investors have apparently told the company that they should sell it off.
However if the report is true and that Toyota does plan to invest $500 million into the company, it could breathe some new life into the project. That being said, self-driving cars are still probably years away from becoming road legal, let alone mainstream. While regulators have approved self-driving cars to be tested on roads, the closest thing to an actual road legal self-driving car would be the Autopilot feature in Tesla’s vehicles (although the company has clarified that it is not meant to be a self-driving feature).
Exactly what kind of fruits this investment from Toyota could yield remains to be seen.
Filed in . Read more about Self-Driving Cars, Toyota and Uber.