Toyota City, Japan, May 15, 2018―Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and ALBERT Inc. (ALBERT) announce today that both companies have agreed on a business alliance for big data analysis, mainly in the field of advanced development of automated driving technology, and that Toyota will invest in ALBERT. Toyota’s investment in ALBERT is expected to be in the amount of 400 million yen, and Toyota is to acquire new shares in ALBERT issued through a third-party allocation of shares dated May 30, 2018.
To promote the development of automated driving technologies, Toyota has been bolstering its organization at unprecedented speed, such as by establishing the advanced research company, Toyota Research Institute (TRI), in the United States in January 2016 and the advanced development company, Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development (TRI-AD), in Tokyo, while also advancing its technology development centered on AI.
Meanwhile, ALBERT, as a group of data scientists* in the domain of big data analysis, has been continuously providing optimal solutions to companies since 2005. In recent years, it has been actively expanding into the field of imagery analysis in the development of automated driving technologies. Through the business alliance announced today between Toyota and ALBERT, Toyota believes it will be possible to strengthen elements such as data analysis processes in Toyota’s development of AI technologies, which is expected to achieve greater acceleration of Toyota’s development of automated driving technologies.
Executive General Manager Ken Koibuchi, who is in charge of the development of automated driving at Toyota’s in-house Advanced R&D and Engineering Company, commented, “We believe that AI technologies are indispensable for achieving our vision of ‘safe and smooth mobility for all people.’ To bring out the full performance of AI technologies, it is necessary to skillfully manage large volumes of data. I look forward to this business alliance accelerating Toyota’s development of automated driving technologies.”
ALBERT President Takeshi Matsumoto said, “For technological innovation, such as in the development of automated driving technologies, to be fully implemented in society and be able to create new value, advanced analytical capacity centered on AI and machine learning and data scientists who pursue realization of this are essential. Going forward, our company intends to support ‘safe technological innovation demanded by society’ through, among other efforts, the strengthening of a distinguished group of data scientists who aim for enhanced analysis.”
