SoftBank, Toyota Team Up on Ride-Hailing, Self-Driving Cars
- New venture Monet to deploy on-demand transportation services
- Japanese giants responding to advances by Google, Tesla
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Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. are betting on a future when consumers and businesses will order up their transportation needs on demand, forming a new venture that will develop and deploy ride-hailing and self-driving car technologies.
Monet Technologies Corp. will initially introduce ride-hailing services for Japanese public agencies and private companies, followed by a rollout of autonomous vehicles in 2020, the two companies said at a joint briefing in Tokyo on Thursday. After Japan, Monet will expand globally, they said.