Toyota Motor Corp. and NTT Corp. agreed to form a capital tie-up, the companies said Tuesday.
Both companies are planning to invest about 200 billion yen in the tie-up. They will cooperate with each other in the development of autonomous driving technologies and the building of a "smart city," a community using the internet to bring products and services together.
It is to be a full-scale tie-up between a major Japanese automaker and a major telecommunications company.
Under the tie-up, Toyota will provide advanced technologies, such as self-driving cars, while NTT will provide communications technologies, including those using the 5G next-generation communications standard. Competition across industries is intensifying overseas, with U.S. information technology giant Google Inc. developing self-driving cars. Toyota and NTT aim to counter such moves by bringing their strengths together.
Competition is also intensifying in the car industry to develop next-generation vehicles, such as self-driving cars and cars that are continuously connected to the internet.
At the same time, there is an urgent need in the telecommunications industry to develop technologies for 5G as well as 6G, which is expected to spread in the future as the post-5G communications standard.
Advanced communications technology is essential for next-generation vehicles, and the two companies will work together to develop them efficiently.
Toyota has already announced a plan to start construction of the "smart city" in early 2021 on the site of a former factory in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, employing state-of-the-art IT to help create an efficient lifestyle. The automaker has positioned the facility as a testing ground for robots, self-driving cars and environmental technologies, and plans to accelerate such efforts together with NTT.
Toyota has deepened ties with other major telecommunications companies as well. The company cooperated with KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp. in the development of automatic driving systems, among other projects.
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