Toyota steups up efforts for developing self-driving ecosystem

In a major boost to the development and deployment of self-driving vehicles, Japanese multinational automotive maker Toyota has announced that it was investing $500 million in ride-hailing giant Uber.

The funding from the Japanese car-making giant, which values Uber at more than $70 billion, would see the two companies work together on autonomous vehicles, The Telegraph reported on Monday.

"This agreement and investment mark an important milestone in our transformation to a mobility company," said Shigeki Tomoyama, President of Toyota Connected Co.

As part of an agreement, both the companies would work on autonomous cars aimed at improving safety and lowering transportation costs.

"It marks a significant show of faith in the US transport app, whose driverless car division has been beset by problems in recent months," the report added.

This comes months after Uber suspended all tests of its self-driving cars (in March) after one of its vehicles killed a pedestrian, the first recorded death involving a driverless vehicle, in the US state of Arizona.

The company had been testing its self-driving technology in the state since 2016 but halted its operations in the wake of the fatal crash.

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