NTT Will Trial Driverless Vehicle Technology With Toyota

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), plans to test driverless vehicle technology with Toyota Motor. (photo: twitter @NTTPR ·)

JAKARTA - Japan's telecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), plans to test driverless vehicle technology with Toyota Motor. They also invested in a startup in the United States that developed an autonomous vehicle system. This was revealed by a spokesman for the company on Monday, November 6.

NTT aims to start trials with buses and autonomous taxis as soon as 2025 and will invest about 10 billion yen (Rp1 trillion) in US startup May Mobility. This highlights the increasing momentum behind driverless vehicle technology in Japan.

Nikkei first reported on Monday that NTT will invest in May Mobility, adding that neither NTT nor Toyota will jointly develop vehicles. Neither NTT spokesperson nor Toyota spokesperson said they had any plans for joint development. But Toyota did not provide further comment.

May Mobility has previously withdrawn investment from Japanese companies. Tokio Marine insurance company said last year that it had joined a funding round of 111 million US dollars (Rp1.7 trillion) in the Michigan-based company, while a venture capital unit linked to Toyota also led an initial investment in the company in 2018.

NTT's growing involvement in autonomous vehicle technology comes after Honda Motor announced in October that it wants to establish a joint venture with General Motors and its robo-taxi company, Cruise. They also want to start driverless travel services in Japan in early 2026.

Cruise at the end of the month suspended all driverless vehicle operations in the United States following an accident that caused California regulators to order the company to remove their driverless cars from the state's roads.