Right now, various companies are working on developing self-driving car technology, but they are mostly working separate from each other. This means that whatever advantage a company can get to get ahead in terms of development is being taken, and Toyota just gave themselves a huge boost.This is because Lyft has announced that they will be selling their self-driving car division, Level 5, to Toyota in a deal valued at $550 million. The Level 5 team will be joining Toyota’s Woven Planet subsidiary. The agreement will also see Toyota agreeing to using Lyft’s fleet data and platform for any commercial service that they launch under the Woven Planet subsidiary.
Lyft was not shy in their reasons behind the sale, which according to the company’s co-founder and president, John Zimmer, will help the company’s profits. According to Zimmer, “Not only will this transaction allow Lyft to focus on advancing our leading Autonomous platform and transportation network, this partnership will help pull in our profitability timeline.”
Interestingly enough, Lyft’s competitor Uber not too long ago had more or less exited the self-driving industry by selling its own division to Aurora. It will be interesting to see how Toyota plans to leverage their latest acquisition, especially since the company, unlike some of its competitors, hasn’t exactly been very vocal about their self-driving car efforts.
Filed in . Read more about Lyft, Self-Driving Cars and Toyota. Source: investor.lyft