Apr 30, 2025 - Business

Toyota and Waymo team up to develop self-driving cars

Nathan Bomey

A white crossover vehicle outfitted with external sensors for autonomous driving purposes — A Waymo autonomous vehicle with rooftop sensors turning at a San Francisco intersection in March. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Toyota announced a preliminary partnership with Waymo on Wednesday that could result in the Japanese automaker collaborating with the Alphabet unit on autonomous vehicle technology.

Why it matters: As the world's second largest automaker by sales and an industry leader in manufacturing efficiency, Toyota has the heft and the industrial prowess to make new technology a reality.

And Waymo is widely considered a leader in autonomous vehicle operations, with operations in several U.S. cities.

How it works: The partnership would call for Toyota and Waymo to "combine their respective strengths to develop a new autonomous vehicle platform."

"In parallel, the companies will explore how to leverage Waymo's autonomous technology and Toyota's vehicle expertise to enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles," Waymo said in a statement.

Nathan's thought bubble: Toyota is an earth shaker in the automotive industry, so this could be huge.

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Toyota and Waymo team up to develop self-driving cars

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