Yamaha Ramps up Efforts to Produce Autonomous Bikes

In the growing race to emerge the leader in self-driving technology, Yamaha hopes the third time is the charm as it attempts to break into the car market and to incorporate self-driving technology into motorcycles. However, the firm's CEO acknowledges that it will most likely take close to a decade to bring the autonomous technology to two-wheelers on a commercial basis. Yamaha launched these efforts with moderate investments of near 20 million in Silicon Valley, where it established a company last summer, in order to discover the latest technologies in autonomous vehicles, robotics and drones. It invested 2 million in a US startup, Veniam, back in February, attracted by the startup's connected vehicle expertise. "It's not a sense of crisis, but I want to make sure we stay ahead of the race," CEO Hiroyuki Yanagi explained.