Toyota invests in U.S. automobile-sharing carrier

TOKYO Toyota Motor Corp on Friday stated it has invested in U.S. car-sharing business enterprise Getaround, a circulate that comes as global automakers are looking for to shore up their presence in new generation sectors amid growing competition from transport startups.

the sector's largest-promoting automaker confirmed in an e-mail to Reuters that it has invested inside the San Francisco-primarily based begin-up via its funding fund, Mirai introduction funding constrained Partnership, however declined to offer further details.

in advance on Friday, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported that Getaround turned into believed to have acquired around $10 million from the fund.

installed ultimate 12 months, the fund which additionally consists of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking organisation (SMBC) as an investor, also invests in artificial intelligence and robotics.

Getaround has been operating its on-call for car-sharing service in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., and different U.S. towns since 2013. It claims to have more than two hundred,000 contributors.

Automakers had been scrambling to accomplice with tech corporations to head off opposition from self-using motors and vehicle sharing services that threaten to sooner or later trim demand for car ownership.

Toyota's funding follows similar moves this yr with the aid of different automakers who have partnered with car sharing carrier providers, together with preferred cars Co and Lyft Inc, and Volkswagen AG VOWG_p.DE and Israel's Gett.

Toyota already has a partnership with Uber technologies Inc [UBER.UL], through which the automaker rentals vehicles to Uber drivers, and plans to work with the trip-hailing service to boost up mobile generation studies.