Jun 14, 2018
Toyota Motor will invest $1 billion in Grab Holdings, a Southeast Asian ride-hailing startup, as global automakers including General Motors and Ford Motor brace for massive disruptions in mobility.
Announcing Toyota's stake Wednesday, Singapore-based Grab called the investment the largest ever by an automaker in the global ride-hailing sector.
Toyota's Grab investment is double the $500 million that GM poured into ride-hailing company Lyft in 2016. The Detroit carmaker aims to launch its own self-driving vehicles for ride sharing in 2019. Ford Motor also partners with Lyft, with plans to take self-driving cars mainstream in 2021. Meanwhile, Toyota backs Lyft rival Uber.
By 2030, a quarter of miles driven in the U.S. could be in shared, self-driving cars, according to the Boston Consulting Group. In fact, ride-sharing could make producing costly self-driving cars more economically viable. By some estimates, so-called robotaxis could generate $3 trillion in revenue by 2050.
Toyota Motor shares closed up 0.6% at 135.41 on the stock market today and sit above the 50-day moving average in a flat base with a 141.09 buy point. GM rose 0.6%, Ford slipped 0.7%, Fiat Chrysler dipped 0.6%, and Tesla added 0.6%.
Toyota Motor: New Mobility
Grab's other backers include Uber, China ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing and SoftBank. Last month, Japan's Softbank invested $2.25 billion in GM's self-driving car unit, Cruise.
"Toyota's investment in Grab is based on their conviction in our leadership in driving the adoption of new mobility solutions," Ming Maa, president of Grab, said in a statement.
The company has an installed mobile base of more than 100 million users.
Reports in April said German automaker Volkswagen and China's Didi were exploring a joint venture tied to ride-hailing as well as robotaxis.
Grab: Food, Package Delivery
Grab also offers food and package delivery services. It will work with Toyota on how connected car services could help drivers on the Grab platform. It said "telematics-based insurance," one such service, may reduce the cost of insurance premiums for some Grab drivers.
The Grab-Toyota transaction must meet certain closing conditions.