[cbatrody]

Toyota, Uber form ride-sharing alliance!

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. is partnering with Uber to explore ride-sharing opportunities and will make a strategic investment in the company.

As part of the partnership, Toyota will create new leasing options in which car purchasers can lease their vehicles from Toyota Financial Services and cover their payments through earnings generated as Uber drivers.

Toyota said it is making the strategic investment in Uber through its finance arm, Toyota Financial Services Corp. and Mirai Creation Investment Limited Partnership.

"Ride-sharing has huge potential in terms of shaping the future of mobility. Through this collaboration with Uber, we would like to explore new ways of delivering secure, convenient and attractive mobility services to customers,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, senior managing officer of Toyota Motor Corp. and president of the Connected Company, one of Toyota’s recently created in-house companies.

Toyota and Uber said the collaboration will start with trials in ride-sharing, in countries where ride-sharing is expanding. The two companies will explore collaboration in other areas, such as developing in-car apps that support Uber drivers.

Traditional automakers are racing to find ride-sharing partners as technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet's Google and private companies such as Uber reshape the global auto industry.

Earlier Tuesday, Volkswagen said it would make a $300 million investment in Gett, a smaller ride-sharing company.

The Toyota-Uber partnership comes more than four months after General Motors' $500 million investment in Lyft, Uber's main U.S. rival, to develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars.

More recently, Apple said it would invest $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, seen as a political move by the technology giant to cement its presence in the crucial Chinese market.

At the same time, Ford Motor Co. is looking at partnerships to expand beyond manufacturing and selling cars, with Executive Chairman Bill Ford saying on Monday that "you'll hear more from us" as the year progresses.


Source:
http://europe.autonews.com/article/2...aring-alliance

[cbatrody]

BMW invests in California-based mobile carpooling app

DETROIT -- BMW AG said today its BMW iVentures venture capital arm has invested an undisclosed amount in California-based Scoop Technologies, which offers a smartphone-powered carpooling service called Scoop.

BMW's move is the latest in a flurry of investments by automakers in technology industry startups that appear to be aimed at convincing consumers to do without owning their own cars, or driving vehicles as often.

After several years of uncertainty over how to respond to challenges from the startups, global automakers are racing to buy into the would-be disruptors, deploying cash generated from years of strong vehicle sales.

The Scoop application connects people who live in the same neighborhoods and work near each other to arrange carpools. The company currently operates in the San Francisco Bay area.

Scoop is one of several investments BMW has made in ride-hailing, connected-vehicle technology, transportation services and other ventures related to "mobility," the umbrella term automakers and technology companies use for services designed to allow people to move around without necessarily relying on a vehicle they own.

BMW has been an active deal maker in the mobility universe. The German automaker, whose motto is that it creates "ultimate driving machines," has invested in a ride-hailing service called Summon, which recently moved to San Francisco from India.

BMW has also invested in a fleet management software company called RideCell; a parking spot locator service called Zirx; Moovit, a service that simplifies the chore of connecting with public transit; and Zendrive, a company that harvests data from smartphones to coach motorists on how to drive safely.


Source:
http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...carpooling-app

[libranof1987]

Close on the heels of Hyundai's investment in Revv, comes Toyota's investment in Uber to the tune of $500m.

Manufacturers seem to be making big moves to buffer themselves from the disruption driverless cars could cause!

Toyota has invested $500 million in Uber to roll out a self-driving fleet.
The deal values Uber at $72 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal, a significant jump from Uber's most recently stated valuation of $62 billion.
In June, Toyota invested $1 billion in Southeast Asian Uber-rival Grab.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/27/toyo...f-72b-wsj.html