CHICAGO/NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO
Toyota Motor Corp wants to smooth the oft-bumpy ride for start-up companies by forming a new venture capital business.
Armed with an initial $100 million to invest, Toyota AI Ventures will seek companies that are taking on challenging research also being pursued by Toyota Research Institute, the carmaker’s artificial intelligence and robotics R&D unit. The first three companies to receive financing are a maker of cameras that monitor drivers and roads, a creator of autonomous car-mapping algorithms and a developer of robotic companions for the elderly.
“A lot of disruptive technologies come from start-ups,” Jim Adler, vice president of data and business development for the institute and managing director of Toyota AI Ventures, said in a statement Tuesday. “One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is knowing if they’re building the right product for the right market. We can help them navigate that uncertainty.”
In starting the venture fund, Toyota Research Institute is answering President Akio Toyoda’s call “to be attacking and defending at the same time” in an age where carmakers that used to compete for decades by bending metal now have to contend with the likes of Google and Tesla Inc. Toyoda told shareholders last month that the almost 80-year-old company would consider options including partnerships, mergers and acquisitions to improve its competitiveness.
The first three investments placed by Toyota AI Ventures include Intuition Robotics, a developer of AI in machines that serve as the eyes and ears of ageing people otherwise isolated in their homes. With help from Toyota, Intuition Robotics plans to commercialise its home-assistant robot ElliQ, Chief Executive Officer Dor Skuler said in a phone interview.
‘Elegant’ Robot
ElliQ tries to anticipate the needs of elderly people by simulating how their brains work, Skuler said. One early advantage of the relationship with Toyota has been working with the company on manufacturing, he said.
“We had issues with our motors to get them to be quiet and elegant in their movements,” Skuler said. “Toyota helped us a lot.”
Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital arm of Bloomberg LP, also invested in the Series A financing round Intuition Robotics completed in May.
Toyota provided seed financing in March to London-based SlamCore, which enables cars to build maps with the vehicle positioned in them in real time. Before that, the automaker contributed funding to Palo Alto, California-based Nauto, which makes an advanced dashcam for vehicle fleet managers to help prevent crashes.
In addition to investments, the Toyota AI Ventures will offer selected start-ups mentoring and on-site support at the Silicon Valley headquarters of Toyota Research Institute. Toyota formed the research institute with an initial $1 billion investment in 2015 and hired Gill Pratt, the former top robotics engineer for the US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to run it.
