Toyota is weaving its web in autonomous vehicles.

The Japanese automobile giant announced on Monday its acquisition for 550 million dollars (some 455 million euros) of the division dedicated to this area of ​​the American platform of VTC Lyft.

Lyft's unit in the self-driving car, known as Level 5 and with 300 employees, will be integrated into Woven Planet Holdings, a Toyota subsidiary dedicated to innovation.

This will set up a team of 1,200 people in autonomous driving technologies in Japan, the United States and Great Britain, according to a joint statement.

A city-laboratory in Japan

Lyft will receive some $ 550 million, including $ 200 million prepaid and $ 350 million over five years. The acquisition of Level 5 marks "the first major deal" of Woven Planet, according to the press release. This new Toyota entity, whose operational activity began in early 2021, aims to decompartmentalize research and development in related sectors such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and smart cities.

Work on its flagship project, “Woven City”, was launched in February.

This city-laboratory, built on the site of a disused Toyota factory at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, will allow the future to develop and test technologies in real life.

Within 4 to 5 years, around 360 engineers and inventors should form the first group of residents of Woven City, said a spokesperson for Woven Planet.

"Advancing clean and autonomous mobility"

The acquisition of Level 5 "advances our project to develop the safest mobility in the world", greeted the boss of Woven Planet, James Kuffner, quoted in the press release.

This transaction, which should be finalized in the third quarter of this year, "brings together the vision, talent, resources and commitment necessary to advance clean and autonomous mobility on a global scale," said his alongside Lyft boss Logan Green.

Uber, Lyft's big competitor in the United States, also sold at the end of 2020 its autonomous driving technologies division, taken over by a start-up in Silicon Valley, Aurora Innovation.

This company is supported by Amazon and it is also a partner of… Toyota.

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