Toyota wants to smooth the oft-bumpy ride for startup companies and maybe find a few gems to acquire by forming a new venture capital business, according to Bloomberg.
Armed with an initial $100 million to invest, Toyota AI Ventures will seek companies that are taking on challenging research also being pursued by Toyota Research Institute, the carmaker’s artificial intelligence and robotics R&D unit. The first three companies to receive financing are a maker of cameras that monitor drivers and roads, a creator of autonomous car-mapping algorithms and a developer of robotic companions for the elderly.
In starting the venture fund, Toyota is following through on President Akio Toyoda’s call “to be attacking and defending at the same time“ in an age where automakers known for metal-bending now contend with the likes of Google and Tesla in programming cars capable of driving themselves. Toyoda told shareholders last month that the almost 80-year-old company would consider options including partnerships, mergers and acquisitions to improve its competitiveness.
The first three investments placed by Toyota AI Ventures include Intuition Robotics, an Israeli developer of AI in machines that serve as the eyes and ears of aging people otherwise isolated in their homes. With help from Toyota, Intuition Robotics plans to commercialize its home-assistant robot ElliQ, CEO Dor Skuler said in a phone interview. ElliQ tries to anticipate the needs of elderly people by simulating how their brains work, Skuler said
Toyota provided seed financing in March to London-based SlamCore, which enables cars to build maps with the vehicle positioned in them in real time. Before that, the automaker contributed funding to Palo Alto, California-based Nauto, which makes an advanced dashcam for vehicle fleet managers to help prevent crashes.
In addition to investments, Toyota AI Ventures will offer selected startups mentoring and on-site support at the Silicon Valley headquarters of Toyota Research Institute. Toyota formed the research institute with an initial $1 billion investment in 2015 and hired Pratt, the former top robotics engineer for the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to run it.
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