Toyota Goes Yellow and Blue; Google Into Ride Hailing

Toyota is investing in the University of Michigan (sorry Buckeyes) to the tune of $22 million for artificial intelligence research that will go into driverless vehicles and many other types of products. The Japanese company is also interested in robotics products that enable older adults to remain independent and to assist people with disabilities. 

In a move that I perceive as related to autonomous vehicles, but is not technically so, Google has partnered with Israeli company Gett, a ride hailing, app-based, business similar to Uber. (Now I can't help but mention that according to Jewish law a gett is a document related to divorce that a husband must give to the wife - but without any reciprocal requirement - if she is to be free of the marriage.) 

Cozy linkage

The Jerusalem Post reports that 

In the deal, Google will offer information and a link to Gett in its popular Maps app when users search for directions, including an estimated fare and travel time. The feature, which previously went live in the UK and as of Wednesday is available in Israel and Russia, lets users seamlessly jump from Maps to Gett to order their cabs, or directs them to the app store to download the app. Google has offered the same feature with Uber for some time ...

The Gett deal is just one of a number of similar deals between Google and ride hailing companies around the globe. The deals demonstrate that Google perceives the ride hailing market as significant. Or perhaps Google is hedging its bets because no one can be sure of the business models for future transportation. 

These deals put Google into the space that RideScout formerly inhabited, though that app company did not operate on a global scale. In the musical chairs game of transportation app businesses, Moovel, which is owned by Daimler, purchased RideScout in April 2016.

From the warehouse to the street?

For those who doubt that driverless vehicles are another few decades away or that they will not play nicely with walking humans (otherwise known as pedestrians), this excellent article about the use of self-driving forklifts being employed in factories might give pause. The article does a good job of explaining the technology and operations.

Data convinced union leaders to allow these (or not to oppose them). Experience demonstrates that the autonomous forklifts are safer than human-driven ones and that there have been no collisions with walking human factory workers. Oh and they save the factories lots of money as well.