General Motors Co. and Honda Motor Co. will jointly develop affordable electric vehicles in major global markets, dramatically expanding a partnership that already spans gas-powered models, batteries and self-driving technology. The automakers plan to create a new architecture based on GM's Ultium EV battery that will be used primarily for small crossover SUVs, with the first models available in North America in 2027, they said in a statement Tuesday. The project is intended to produce EVs that will be priced below GM's planned $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox and similar future offerings from Honda, the companies said on a call with journalists. "GM and Honda will share our best technology, design and manufacturing strategies to deliver affordable and desirable EVs on a global scale, including our key markets in North America, South America and China," GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said in the statement. The collaboration marks a major move toward democratizing electric vehicles, most of which are expensive and beyond the reach of many consumers.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Wednesday they will take a stake in each other to jointly develop next-generation small-sized commercial vehicles with Toyota's subsidiary truck maker Hino Motors Ltd. Toyota said it will hold a 4.6% stake of all issued shares as of the end of September, worth ¥42.8 billion, in Isuzu through a third-party allotment, while Isuzu plans to acquire Toyota shares of the same value through a market purchase. The three companies said they will set up a joint venture named Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corp. in April to co-develop small-sized electric and fuel-cell trucks as well as autonomous driving technologies for such vehicles. Toyota will have an 80% stake in the joint venture, while Isuzu and Hino plan to each hold a 10% stake. Toyota and Isuzu initially agreed on a capital tie-up in 2006 to jointly develop technologies for diesel engines, but it was dissolved in 2018 without any major achievements.

Japan Post Co. and major online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. have reached a basic agreement on a tie-up aimed at streamlining logistics with the use of digital technologies. The two companies will try to tackle delivery staff shortages and other logistics-related challenges by sharing Japan Post's massive trove of data on postal items and Rakuten's forecast information regarding online shopping demand, they said on Thursday. The mail delivery arm of Japan Post Holdings Co. and Rakuten will also consider cooperation in other fields such as cashless payment and mobile phone services. They aim to sign a final agreement in around March next year. "We see tie-up possibilities in a variety of fields, even outside the financial and mobile sectors," Japan Post Holdings President Hiroya Masuda told a news conference, showing the group's strong interest in enhancing business ties with Rakuten.

New York/Detroit/Bangalore – Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has agreed with an affiliate of Amazon.com to expand their collaboration as part of the auto giant's efforts toward developing cloud-connected vehicles. Teaming up with Amazon Web Services Inc., Toyota aims to implement AWS's data analysis throughout the company and use it to help advance progress toward what the carmaker calls CASE, or Connected, Autonomous/Automated, Shared and Electric mobility technologies. Toyota said its Mobility Services Platform will enable it to process and analyze data that can be used to develop vehicle services from ride and car sharing to behavior-based insurance and maintenance notifications. Self-driving vehicles are among the envisioned next-generation products, and Toyota hopes to take advantage of its collaboration with AWS to develop connected vehicles ahead of the widespread use of 5G high-volume cellular networks. Toyota first signed a comprehensive deal with AWS, the cloud service arm of Amazon, in 2017 to analyze data collected from connected cars and apply it to vehicle design, development and maintenance, as well as car-sharing and other services.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Panasonic Corp. said Thursday they will integrate their housing businesses in an expansion of an existing tie-up, as they seek to collaborate on "town development" for next-generation lifestyles where homes and vehicles are connected to the internet. The companies plan to set up a joint venture on Jan. 7, 2020. Toyota will focus on new mobility services using self-driving technology, while Panasonic brings strengths in developing smart homes equipped with appliances supported by internet and other digital technologies. The venture, Prime Life Technologies Corp., will bring housing units of both companies under its wing, including Toyota Housing Corp., Misawa Homes Co. and Panasonic Homes Co. The move by the leading carmaker and electronics manufacturer comes amid shrinking demand in the domestic housing market due to Japan's declining population.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. technology company The Bitfury Group has formed a partnership with Insilico Medicine, a Baltimore-based medical artificial intelligence (AI) firm, to create new applications for the healthcare industry using blockchain, Bitfury's chief executive officer said on Friday. Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that gained prominence as the software underpinning the digital currency bitcoin. The technology, being developed in the public and private sectors, has gained attention globally for its ability to permanently record and track assets or transactions across all industries. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding last month for collaboration to study and develop blockchain and AI solutions for sharing, managing, tracking and validating healthcare data, said Bitfury founder and CEO Valery Vavilov in an email to Reuters. The collaboration is in an early stage and there were no details available about potential projects or specific uses.

Those betting big on AI making voice the dominant user interface of the future are not betting so big as to believe their respective artificially intelligent voice assistants will be the sole vocal oracle that Internet users want or need. And so Microsoft's Satya Nadella and Amazon's Jeff Bezos are today announcing a tie-up, which will -- at an unspecified point later this year -- enable users of the latter's Alexa voice assistant to ask her to summon Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant to ask it to do stuff, and vice versa. Here are the pair's respective statements on the move: Quoth Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft: "Ensuring Cortana is available for our customers everywhere and across any device is a key priority for us. Bringing Cortana's knowledge, Office 365 integration, commitments, and reminders to Alexa is a great step toward that goal." Said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon: "The world is big and so multifaceted. There are going to be multiple successful intelligent agents, each with access to different sets of data and with different specialized skill areas. Together, their strengths will complement each other and provide customers with a richer and even more helpful experience. It's great for Echo owners to get easy access to Cortana."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. technology company The Bitfury Group has formed a partnership with Insilico Medicine, a Baltimore-based medical artificial intelligence (AI) firm, to create new applications for the healthcare industry using blockchain, Bitfury's chief executive officer said on Friday. Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that gained prominence as the software underpinning the digital currency bitcoin. The technology, being developed in the public and private sectors, has gained attention globally for its ability to permanently record and track assets or transactions across all industries. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding last month for collaboration to study and develop blockchain and AI solutions for sharing, managing, tracking and validating healthcare data, said Bitfury founder and CEO Valery Vavilov in an email to Reuters. The collaboration is in an early stage and there were no details available about potential projects or specific uses.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding last month for collaboration to study and develop blockchain and AI solutions for sharing, managing, tracking and validating healthcare data, said Bitfury founder and CEO Valery Vavilov in an email to Reuters. The collaboration is in an early stage and there were no details available about potential projects or specific uses.

NAGOYA – Toyota Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp. have agreed to form a tie-up in advanced technology development and other operations, sources close to the matter said Saturday. The two automakers will continue to discuss whether to expand the partnership to include a capital alliance, the sources said. The comprehensive tie-up comes after Toyota, Japan's biggest automaker by volume, and Suzuki, a small-car specialist, said in October they would start talks on how they could join forces. The deal is expected to be announced Monday, according to the sources. The global auto industry is facing soaring costs to meet stricter emissions regulations and develop advanced safety technology for electric vehicles and autonomous driving systems.