Toyota to Buy Self-Driving Division of U.S. Ride-Hailing Firm Lyft

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Toyota to buy self-driving division of U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft:

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it had agreed with ride-hailing firm Lyft Inc. to acquire the U.S. firm's self-driving division for $550 million, aiming to accelerate its development of autonomous driving technologies.

The purchase via Woven Planet Holdings Inc., a Toyota unit engaging in software development, will equip the Japanese automaker with development bases in California and London in addition to Tokyo.

Woven Planet and Lyft also have agreed to use Lyft's system and fleet data to speed up commercialization of Woven Planet's automated-driving technology and improve its safety features.

This will be the first buyout by Woven Planet since it began operations in January this year. It plans to complete the acquisition of Lyft's division, Level 5, in five years.

"Bringing Level 5's world-class engineers and experts into the fold - as well as additional technology resources - will allow us to have even greater speed and impact," Woven Planet CEO James Kuffner said in a statement.

Toyota is also working in cooperation with Aurora Innovation Inc., a U.S. driverless technology startup, which acquired the self-driving unit of Uber Technologies Inc. in which Toyota had invested.

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