Toyota and SoftBank join forces to usher in an era of cooperation between water and oil for autonomous driving

The Nikkei reported on November 27 that Toyota Motor and SoftBank Group of Japan announced on October 4 that they would cooperate in the field of autonomous driving and other travel services. The two companies have different businesses and corporate cultures, but the cooperation negotiations took only about half a year to reach a compromise, which is very rare in the automotive industry.

"We will collect data from across Southeast Asia and popularize new travel and financial services," said Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Anthony Tan, CEO of Southeast Asia's largest ride-sharing platform GrabTaxi, in the president's office at the Toyota headquarters in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, on July 11, during a 40-minute conversation.

Toyota controls 30% of the new car market share in Southeast Asia, while GrabTaxi has 100 million users. Although the two leaders are like-minded, the success or failure lies in the hands of a person who was not present at the time.

About a month before this meeting, on June 13, Toyota announced a $1 billion investment in GrabTaxi, foreshadowing the cooperation between Toyota and SoftBank Group.

"SoftBank has a big influence here, right?" Toyota Vice President Shigeki Tomoyama was deeply aware of the foresight of SoftBank Group Chairman and President Masayoshi Son during the discussion of the investment plan with Anthony Tan since January 2018. Son and Anthony Tan are friends. In 2014, Son invested $250 million in GrabTaxi, which was just founded, and in 2017, he joined hands with Chinese companies to invest a total of $2 billion. After reading Tomoyama's report, Akio Toyoda also believed that "as long as we take action on the demand side of autonomous driving, Masayoshi Son will definitely appear."

The four largest online car-hailing companies in the United States, China, Southeast Asia and India account for about 90% of the world's total rides. The largest shareholders of these four companies are SoftBank Group, and Masayoshi Son said that he "meets with them every month to exchange strategies."

Discussions on cooperation between Toyota and SoftBank Group were officially launched in April by about five people in their 30s and 40s from the two companies. They met once a month, and according to a person involved, "In the beginning, we were completely blank and tested each other's inner thoughts."

In the field of communications, which is the core technology of mobility services, Toyota and KDDI have a close relationship, while KDDI and SoftBank are competitors. SoftBank Group is collaborating with Honda in the field of autonomous driving. Toyota seeks to gain dominance in the field of mobility services based on car data, while SoftBank Group hopes to compete for dominance in the field of "Internet of Things (IoT)". The suggestion of young employees is to form a joint venture in the next-generation business field called "Mobility as a Service" such as online car-hailing.

On August 9, Akio Toyoda and Masayoshi Son met at the Shiodome Building in Tokyo, where SoftBank Group is headquartered. This was the first time the two had met in person in 20 years since Toyota, as a section chief, rejected Son's proposal for an online dealer system. Toyota tentatively said, "We hope to work together to form a travel service alliance." Son smiled and responded, "Finally, this time has come."

In fact, Son Masayoshi said something in Toyota eight years ago that gave people a glimpse of cooperation between the two parties. At a meeting of the informal group "Toyota Management Research Institute", when autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI) had not yet attracted attention, Son said, "(In the future) computers will have super intelligence and be equipped in cars. In this world, it is difficult to do everything on our own. The right thing to do is to form various alliances, and I hope there will be many partners (with Toyota)."

Toyota is the dominant player in Japan's domestic manufacturing industry, while SoftBank Group has launched large-scale investment activities in fields such as AI. Due to differences in corporate culture and business, some people believe that the cooperation between the two companies is like "water and oil." However, the two top leaders refuted this. Toyota said, "Salad dressing is made of water and oil. Adding water and water together will only make water." Masayoshi Son said, "It's more interesting because of the different areas of strength."

Cooperation in mobility services centered on autonomous driving is making rapid progress around the world. For example, in China, Baidu, which has an advantage in the field of AI, strives to promote the standardization of autonomous driving through a global alliance. However, Japan is slow to act.

On July 19, Masayoshi Son criticized the Japanese government for not allowing online ride-hailing services, saying, "This is a dangerous situation where the government is blocking its own future progress. It is hard to believe that there are such stupid countries." Toyota also said, "If Japan does not open up the trend now, it will fall behind by 3-4 times."

On October 4, Toyota and SoftBank Group held a press conference at 1:30 pm Japan time. The press conference was deliberately held at a time when European and American automakers and people involved in autonomous driving were still awake. "I hope to show that Japanese companies will also participate in future competitions." Nine days before this speech, Akio Toyoda and Masayoshi Son reached a final agreement.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.