Toyota to pump $1bn into ride-hailing firm Grab, with access to drivers and data
The Japanese car maker wants to install its TransLog into Grab’s fleet as it moves aggressively into the growing mobility-as-a-service industry
Tokyo/Singapore — By pumping $1bn into ride-hailing firm Grab, Toyota stands to gain a passenger-side view of tens of thousands of cars across Southeast Asia, tracking how fast they drive, how far they travel, and the time they spend stuck in traffic. The Japanese car maker said it aims to install its TransLog driving recorder devices into Grab’s fleet of lease cars to access the data on driving patterns that will be crucial to its push into the nascent mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) industry. "Only ride-hailing companies have good, extensive data on usage, so automotive makers want to be connected with that," said Egil Juliussen, director of research for automotive infotainment and advanced driver assistance systems at IHS Markit. Grab already monitors driving behaviour through its app to increase ride safety, sending e-mails about speed and braking, for instance, to its drivers, such as Singapore’s Rennu Mahajan. "With this system, it keeps me in check," said Mahajan. It will get ev...
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