Toyota venture to spend $2.8 bln to develop...

Toyota is establishing a new company in Tokyo in the latest move to accelerate the development of self-driving car technology. The firm has announced a new venture would be investing more than $2.8 billion to develop automated-driving software, in the latest salvo in an increasingly frenetic battle to be ahead in a sector hit by a slew of disruptive technologies. The new branch, dubbed Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development (TRI-AD), will combine the efforts of Toyota, Aisin, and Denso to develop the software. Toyota has announced a new venture would be investing more than $2.8 billion to develop automated-driving software, in the latest salvo in an increasingly frenetic battle to be ahead in a sector hit by a slew of disruptive technologies The Tokyo-based venture, which will bring together some 1,000 employees including new hires, will be 90 percent held by Toyota with group suppliers Denso Corp and Aisin Seiki Co each taking 5 percent. 'Building production-quality software is a critical success factor for Toyota's automated driving program,' said Dr. Kuffner.