Woven Planet Holdings

Woven Planet Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of the Toyota Motor Corporation, was formerly the Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development (TRI–AD), which had been established by Toyota in 2018. In 2021 it became Woven Planet Holdings, with two subsidiary companies, Woven Core and Woven Alpha, as well as an investment fund, Woven Capital.[1][2]

Woven Planet Holdings
FormerlyToyota Research Institute – Advanced Development
TypePrivate
IndustryAutonomous vehicle technologies
Founded2018
HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
Area served
International
Key people
James J. Kuffner Jr., CEO
Websitewoven-planet.global

Description

Woven Planet Holdings incorporated in January 2021, organizing at that time the two subsidiaries Woven Core and Woven Alpha, and also creating the fund, Woven Capital. Woven Planet Holdings, Inc., develops and maintains database software products and technologies in Japan.[3] Woven Planet Holdings CEO James Kuffner said, "Toyota's traditional strength in hardware is something we never want to lose. To make safe mobility we need both, great hardware and great software... The automotive industry is going through this once-in-a-hundred-year revolution... Some things we're going to do are going to fail. But, as I always tell my team, it isn't a failure if you learn. We are always going to be learning, in the spirit of 'kaizen' and improvement."[2]

Woven Core

The subsidiary Woven Core will "develop, implement and scale automated driving technologies".[4]

Woven Alpha

The subsidiary Woven Alpha's mission is to search out new business opportunities and incubate new projects like Woven City, the autonomous vehicle software, and an automated mapping platform.[1][4]

Woven Capital

In 2021, Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development set up the US$800m (€676m) global investment fund, Woven Capital, to support the work of Woven Core and Woven Alpha. The fund is for investment in driverless car technologies, including "autonomous mobility, automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data and analytics, connectivity, and smart cities".[1]

History

TRI–AD began in 2018, a joint venture among Toyota, Denso, and Aisin to unify and strengthen Toyota's software for automated driving and safety.[1][5] In January 2021, it became Woven Planet Holdings.[3]

In April 2021, Woven Planet Holdings agreed to acquire Lyft's Level 5 self-driving vehicle division.[6] Financing included US$550 million in cash with $200 million paid upfront and $350 million of payments over five year period. Woven Planet CEO James Kuffner said the acquisition assembled "a dream team of world-class engineers and scientists to deliver safe mobility technology for the world".[7]

Woven Planet also acquired CARMERA, Inc., in July 2021. CARMERA "specializes in sophisticated road mapping updates made cheaper and faster by using crowdsourced information obtained in real time from millions of net-connected Toyota vehicles".[2]

In September 2021, Woven Planet acquired Renovo Motors, Inc., a Silicon Valley automotive operating system developer.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Toyota Research launches $800m investment fund in move to Woven Planet". EENewsEurope. September 10, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  2. Kageyama, Yuri (July 15, 2021). "Toyota revs up its digital mapping subsidiary Woven Planet". AP NEWS. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  3. "Bloomberg: Woven Planet Holdings Inc". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  4. Szczesny, Joseph. "Toyota Creates "Woven Planet" to Spearhead Tech Development, Growth - The Detroit Bureau". Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  5. Whittaker, D. Hugh (December 15, 2021). "Beyond secular stagnation: A digital and green economy?". The Japanese Political Economy: 1–22. doi:10.1080/2329194X.2021.2012806. ISSN 2329-194X. S2CID 245257385.
  6. "Lyft sells self-driving division to Toyota subsidiary". Intelligent Transport. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  7. "Woven Planet, a subsidiary of Toyota, to acquire Lyft's self-driving car division". www.sec.gov. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  8. "Woven Planet Holdings, a Subsidiary of Toyota, Acquires Vehicle Operating System Developer Renovo Motors". Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
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