Toyota Motor Corporation announced the acquisition of Renovo Motors, a US automotive operating system developer based in Silicon Valley, as it looks to transform itself into a “smart mobility company”.
The automaker said the acquisition was made through its wholly-owned US-based technology company Woven Planet Holdings, formerly the Toyota Research Institute. It will help advance its mission to develop “the most programmable vehicles on the planet”.
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The automaker said the acquisition would add depth to Woven Planet’s resources, particularly for its open vehicle development platform Arene.
“Renovo will bolster Woven Plant’s elite team with top-tier engineers who have deep expertise in building a complete software defined vehicle infrastructure stack,” the company added.
Renovo will also provide a platform and software proven to work across multiple original equipment manufacturer (OEM) platforms, well aligned with the goal of establishing a hardware agnostic operating system, bringing a robust, established technology ecosystem to industry partners.
Toyota said the Renovo takeover followed a series of acquisitions earlier this year, advancing Woven Planet’s strategy of bringing together world class talent and expertise in automated driving technology, next generation mapping and vehicle operating systems “ensuring that Woven Planet can power the future of mobility”.
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By GlobalDataNikos Michalakis, SVP of software platform at Woven Planet Holdings, said in a statement: “The acquisition of Renovo supports Woven Planet’s work in transforming worldwide mobility. A key part in delivering our ‘Mobility to Love, Safety to Live’ vision is to enable the most programmable vehicles on the planet – opening vehicle programming to everyone by simplifying vehicle software development and increasing deployment frequency without compromising safety and security. With Renovo having deep roots in this space, we immediately recognised the opportunity and inherent value of the company. The technical and cultural fit could not have been better and all of us are excited to bring our expertise and technology together to power a new era of automotive technology.”
Christopher Heiser, CEO of Renovo Motors, added: “We are in awe with what the Woven Planet team has been building and are thrilled to join them in creating holistic mobility solutions that will truly benefit humankind. We are united around a singular goal to connect the most ubiquitous software and automotive technology in the industry. In Woven Planet and Toyota, we’ve found partners committed to doing exactly what we have always wanted to do on a global scale and that’s a great feeling.”
Woven Planet’s CEO James Kuffner said more acquisitions might be on the way, adding: “The big picture is Woven Planet creating a dream team of software and vehicle engineering people globally to deliver the world’s programmable and safest mobility.”
