Toyota Subsidiary Acquires Lyft’s Autonomous Driving Division for $550 Million in Cash

A newly established subsidiary of automotive giant Toyota reached an agreement to acquire the self-driving technology division of ride-hailing company Lyft, company officials announced. Under the deal, Woven Planet Holdings will pay $550 million in cash to Lyft for Level 5, including $200 million upfront and the remaining $350 million paid over five years. Woven Planet, formed in January as an expansion of Toyota Research Institute, said the purchase would establish a global leader in autonomous driving technology, including a “robust set” of computing, sensing, and software assets and a “dream team” of about 1,200 scientists and software engineers at offices in Tokyo, London, and Silicon Valley. “The Woven Planet team, alongside the team of researchers at TRI, have already established a center of excellence for software development and technology in the Toyota Group,” Woven Planet CEO James Kuffner said in a statement. “Bringing Level 5’s world-class engineers and experts into the fold — as well as additional technology resources — will allow us to have even greater speed and impact.”