Toyota, Uber having talks on self-driving technology

Uber Technologies is having talks about the possibility of setting up its self-driving system in Toyota Motor vehicles as the U.S. ride-hailing firm looks forward to sell its autonomous driving technology to outside firms, the Nikkei reported on Friday.

Without mentioning sources for this information, the report said that the companies are negotiating a potential deal for Toyota to use Uber’s automated driving technology in one of the Toyota’s minivan models. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had met with Toyota executives in the United States this week, the report included.

Toyota, which is making its own automated driving functions, has said it is open to work with other companies to quickly bring new mobility technologies to market. It currently has partnerships with Uber on ride-hailing and development of self-driving systems.

“We regularly exchange data about automated driving with Uber for some time now,” a spokeswoman stated, adding that no decisions have been made apart from its existing partnership.

Global automakers and technology firms are racing to develop self-driving vehicles as the rise of autonomous, on-demand vehicle services set the traditional business model of personal transportation that is highly based on individual car ownership.

As it competes with Alphabet Inc’s Waymo to develop self-driving vehicles services, Uber has been testing autonomous vehicles in the United States, and has been collaborating with Volvo Cars and Daimler AG on driverless vehicles.