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  • Toyota and Waymo have agreed to explore a collaboration focused on autonomous driving.
  • Details are limited, but it sounds like Toyota wants to bring Waymo tech to passenger vehicles.
  • Waymo is working on a “generalizable driver” that can be applied to a variety of vehicle platforms.

When you think about autonomous driving, what comes to mind? Probably Waymo, Tesla, Ford BlueCruise, and GM Super Cruise. Toyota’s also in that race as the company offers a Teammate semi-autonomous driving system on the Lexus LS. It works fine, but they haven’t capitalized on its potential so it’s easy to forget.

More: Waymo’s Sixth-Gen System Is Smarter, More Capable And Can Drive In Snow

That’s not a great start, but Toyota seems to be rebooting their autonomous driving efforts as they’ve reached a preliminary agreement with Waymo. It calls for exploring a collaboration “focused on accelerating the development and deployment of autonomous driving technologies.”

The companies didn’t go into many specifics, but said they’ll use their respective strengths to develop a new autonomous vehicle platform. They’ll also explore how to “leverage Waymo’s autonomous technology and Toyota’s vehicle expertise to enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles (POVs).”

The latter is interesting to note as Waymo is focused on robotaxis and this suggests their technology could eventually come to traditional vehicles. That would be a significant development, even if the system was ‘dumbed down’ to become more affordable.

 Toyota Could Soon Bring Waymo’s Autonomous Tech To Your Camry

The companies seemed to have hinted at this possibility as they noted the collaboration aims to “further accelerate the development and adoption of driver assistance and automated driving technologies for POVs, with a continued focus on safety and peace of mind.”

Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima said, “We share a strong sense of purpose and a common vision with Waymo in advancing safety through automated driving technology, and we are confident this collaboration can help bring our solutions to more people around the world, moving us one step closer to a zero-accident society.” His sentiments were echoed by Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana, who stated their mission is to become the “world’s most trusted driver. This requires global partners like Toyota that share our commitment to improving road safety and expanding accessible transportation.”

Mawakana also indicated Toyota vehicles will be incorporated into Waymo’s ride-hailing fleet. He went on to note they’re excited about “bringing the magic of Waymo’s autonomous driving technology to Toyota customers.”

 Toyota Could Soon Bring Waymo’s Autonomous Tech To Your Camry