The two companies said they would form a joint venture by the end of March, with 50.25% owned by SoftBank and 49.75% owned by Toyota, to deploy vehicles in a country where 83% of its bus operators aren't profitable. Toyota and SoftBank hope to deliver robot-cooked meals or provide medical checkups using Toyota electric vehicles by the latter half of the 2020s, they said. The two are also studying other services, such as mobile offices, they said. "Many people must be wondering why SoftBank and Toyota are partnering," Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said, noting that the automotive giant and the technology investor have long been seen as incompatible. But "the automotive industry is at a once-in-a-century transformation, he said, adding that working with SoftBank will be important to unlocking new partnerships in a self-driving, connected era.

Two titans of Japanese industry, Toyota Motor Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. said Thursday they are setting up a new joint venture to develop autonomous driving technologies and other on-demand services, including food deliveries, medical care and office space. Funded with an initial investment of ¥2 billion (around $17.5 million), the new company, Monet Technologies Corp., will begin operations as early as next March. While the on-demand services will initially roll out using traditional vehicles, by 2020 the company is aiming to utilize Toyota's driverless concept vehicle, E-Palette. Both Toyota President Akio Toyoda and SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son painted the partnership as part of a broader vision to embrace new business ideas in an age of artificial intelligence. Speaking before a throng of reporters, SoftBank founder Son said that the partnership will be able to harness the synergy and strengths offered by each company.

Toyota and Softbank have established a joint venture that could offer various autonomous vehicle services in the future. Softbank already has several self-driving partnerships with other companies. But this one called MONET (a portmanteau for "mobility network") will combine the powers of Toyota's Mobility Services Platform, which serves as its information infrastructure for connected vehicles, and of SoftBank's Internet of Things platform. Well, for the first phase of the partnership, they're planning to roll out a "just-in-time" vehicle dispatch service for companies and public agencies in Japan. However, MONET's ultimate goal is to roll out Autono-MaaS (autonomous mobility as a service) businesses using Toyota's e-Palette electric vehicle, which is still just a concept.

On Wednesday, Honda Motor Co Ltd said it would invest $2.75 billion (£2.13 billion) and take a 5.7 percent stake in General Motors Co's Cruise self-driving vehicle unit, in which SoftBank is also an investor. At the Paris Auto Show on Wednesday, the heads of Daimler AG and Renault said the two companies may expand their cooperation to batteries, self-driving vehicles and mobility services. Toyota and SoftBank do not have any major partnerships in mobility technologies at the moment, although both are developing technologies for self-driving vehicles, car sharing and other services. Toyota, one of the world's largest automakers, has been developing automated driving and artificial intelligence technologies in-house and with its group suppliers, while acquiring some technology start-ups. Both Toyota and SoftBank have investments and partnerships with Uber Technologies and ride-hailing firm Grab, and Didi Chuxing.