Toyota has purchased the self-driving vehicle division of ride service Lyft.
The acquisition was made through Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp. The transaction includes multi-year non-exclusive commercial agreements between Lyft and Woven Planet to accelerate the development and enhance the safety of automated driving technology.
“Today’s announcement launches Lyft into the next phase of an incredible journey to bring our mission to life,” Lyft Co-Founder and Chief Executive Logan Green said in a release. “Lyft has spent nine years building a transportation network that is uniquely capable of scaling AVs. This partnership between Woven Planet and Lyft represents a major step forward for autonomous vehicle technology.”
Lyft will receive, in total, approximately $550 million in cash with this transaction, with $200 million paid upfront subject to certain closing adjustments and $350 million of payments over a five-year period. The transaction is also expected to remove $100 million of annualized non-GAAP operating expenses on a net basis – primarily from reduced R&D spend – which will accelerate Lyft’s path to Adjusted EBITDA profitability.
“This acquisition assembles a dream team of world-class engineers and scientists to deliver safe mobility technology for the world,” James Kuffner, CEO of Woven Planet said in a release.
The Lyft team will join Woven Planet to develop autonomous driving and other advanced mobility technologies. In addition to the acquisition, Woven Planet and Lyft have signed commercial agreements for the utilization of Lyft system and fleet data to accelerate the safety and commercialization of the automated-driving vehicles that Woven Planet will develop.