Toyota's global models will use a solution jointly developed by the carmaker with Huawei and Momenta, according to local media.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Toyota will reportedly leverage Huawei's technology in order to enhance the smart driving capabilities of its vehicles.

Toyota's global models will use a solution jointly developed by the automotive giant with Chinese tech giant Huawei and startup Momenta, local media outlet Tencent News said in a report today, citing people familiar with the matter.

The solution is different from Huawei's existing ADS assisted driving system, with Momenta and Huawei providing the software and hardware solutions, respectively, and the three parties working together on the integration, the report noted.

Toyota is expected to announce specific plans during the upcoming Beijing auto show, which starts at the end of this month, the person familiar with the matter said.

The 17th Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China 2024) will be held from April 25 to May 4, 2024, which will mark the event's return after a four-year hiatus. The event was originally planned for April 21-April 30, 2022, but was canceled due to Covid concerns.

On March 18, 2020, Momenta announced a strategic partnership with Toyota to provide the automaker with high-definition maps and updates based on camera vision technology, and to jointly promote the commercialization of Toyota's Automated Mapping Platform (AMP) in China, the Tencent News report noted.

On March 19, 2021, Momenta announced the completion of its Series C funding round totaling $500 million, with Toyota participating as one of the lead investors, providing financial support for Momenta and deepening the partnership.

Toyota and Huawei's previous cooperation has focused on the smart cockpit sector. Last month, the new ninth-generation Camry was launched, and for the Chinese market equipped with the vehicle system created by Toyota and Huawei.

In China, Toyota currently offers electric vehicle (EV) models including the bZ3 and bZ4X. While Toyota is almost universally known in the fuel-vehicle era, its EV models are poorly known, and the model names are dubbed by many as verification codes because they look like the codes used in SMS verification.

In the smart driving space, another startup, Pony.ai, announced in February 2020 that it raised $400 million from Toyota.

On August 4, 2023, Toyota said it and Pony.ai plan to form a joint venture that will launch robotaxi vehicles built on Toyota's all-electric vehicles.

Toyota consolidates R&D resources in China to increase bet on EVs