Yamaha ups investment in autonomous driving tech developer Tier IV

Yamaha Motor Co today announced plans to make an additional investment in Tier IV Inc, which is engaged in the development of ‘Autoware’ autonomous driving OS software.

Through this inew nvestment, Yamaha Motor says it aims to strengthen development capabilities and acquire knowledge of low-speed autonomous driving technology. The business activity will involve development of autonomous driving platforms, development of autonomous driving web services, sale of autonomous driving system development kits and training for autonomous driving technology.

Both Yamaha Motor and Tier IV aim to increase the safety quality (product safety and functional safety) of Autoware, share knowledge necessary for mass production, deepen sales and service linkages, and rapidly commercialise autonomous driving-related businesses.

Who is Tier IV?
Tier IV is a deep technology development company involved in the development of the Autoware open-source autonomous driving OS and working towards commercialization of ridesharing and logistics services utilizing autonomous driving.

In recent years, Tier IV has led technological development related to autonomous driving both within Japan and overseas through initiatives such as the first Level 4 (fully automated ) demonstration trial on public roads in Japan (December 2017), announcing the launch of The Autoware Foundation (AWF), a non-profit international industry organisation promoting the standardisation of Autoware (December 2018), and a trial of remote monitored autonomous driving utilizing 5G on public roads (February 2019).

According to Yamaha, this additional investment forms part of its ‘ART for Human Possibilities, Rethinking Solutions’ long-term vision. By providing multi-use vehicles and alternative mobility systems to regions where there are many elderly and other people with limited access to transportation, Yamaha Motor is engaged in addressing a range of social and transportation issues, as well as aiming for the spread of low-speed, low-cost last-mile mobility solutions for public personal mobility.