Toyota AI launches $100m fund for mobility start-ups

Toyota AI Ventures has announced a $100 million fund dedicated to investing in early-stage start-ups developing autonomous mobility and robotics. The company says the fund brings its total assets under management to more than $200m to invest in and support promising projects around the world. Jim Adler, managing director of Toyota AI Ventures, says: “Investing in start-ups creates long-term relationships that help Toyota explore the latest innovations in mobility.” The company looks across a range of in
May 13, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
1686 Toyota AI Ventures has announced a $100 million fund dedicated to investing in early-stage start-ups developing autonomous mobility and robotics.


The company says the fund brings its total assets under management to more than $200m to invest in and support promising projects around the world.

Jim Adler, managing director of Toyota AI Ventures, says: “Investing in start-ups creates long-term relationships that help Toyota explore the latest innovations in mobility.”

The company looks across a range of industries that are applying artificial intelligence (AI), data, and cloud technologies. Existing investments includes the following companies:

  • Joby Aviation: Pioneering an electric vertical take-off and landing passenger aircraft service
  • May Mobility: A Level 4 self-driving shuttle service
  • Sea Machines: Building autonomous control and navigation systems for the maritime industry
  • Elementary Robotics: Developing robotics platforms to assist with automating everyday tasks
  • Intuition Robotics: Creating social companion technologies using cognitive AI


Edwin Olson, co-founder and CEO of May Mobility, says: “For us, Toyota AI Ventures isn’t just an important investor, they are a critical partner in helping us realise our long-term vision of making transportation safer and more personal.”

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Increasing road safety with automated driver assistance systems
    January 26, 2012
    Jon Masters looks at how drivers will be trained to use the increasing number of advanced driver assistance systems being incorporated into modern cars
    Read More
  • FPT enters agreement to develop self-driving EVs in Vietnam
    April 24, 2019
    Vietnamese information technology company FPT Software has partnered with Yamaha Motor and urban developer Ecopark to self-driving electric vehicles (EVs). The partners say they are seeking to accelerate the adoption of autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies and bring smart public transport to Vietnam. Hoang Nam Tien, FPT’s chairman, says: “We hope this collaboration would bring us to the day where autonomous cars using our technologies could travel across urban areas, luxury resorts, factories and warehous
    Read More
  • Public Private Partnerships to gather pace in the US
    April 29, 2015
    Public Private Partnerships are set to play a big role in transportation funding as Andrew Bardin Williams discovers. The old joke goes that the road from New York to Chicago is paved with potholes. For decades, drivers from New York and New Jersey traveling across Pennsylvania to visit the Midwest have lambasted the Commonwealth’s roadways for their lack of smooth pavement.
    Read More
  • Transit must be accessible to all, says SkedGo
    April 24, 2020
    When it comes to accessibility we need to embrace a more open and collaborative approach to ensure MaaS realises its true potential, says SkedGo’s Sandra Witzel – after all, a billion people on the planet have a disability
    Read More

Highlighted Content