Yamaha Motor Invests Further in Autonomous Driving Technology Developer "Tier IV" — Strengthening Development Capabilities for Low-Speed Autonomous Driving Vehicles —

July 04, 2019

IWATA, July 04, 2019 - Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Tokyo:7272) today announced its decision to make additional investment in Tier IV, Inc., which is engaged in the development of Autoware, autonomous driving OS software. Through this investment, Yamaha Motor aims to strengthen development capabilities and acquire knowledge regarding low-speed autonomous driving technology.

Through this additional investment, 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 commercialize autonomous driving-related businesses.

^*“Autoware” is a trademark of The Autoware Foundation, an international industry organization working toward the popularization of the "Autoware" open-source autonomous driving OS.

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 organization promoting the standardization of Autoware (December 2018), and a trial of remote monitored autonomous driving utilizing 5G on public roads (February 2019).

This additional investment forms part of "ART for Human Possibilities, Rethinking Solutions," one aspect of the Company's 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 (Public Personal Mobility).

Yamaha Motor has engaged in collaboration through its previous investment in Tier IV (August 2017), and the sale of the Academic Pack PRO, through which users can experience autonomous driving in electric small and low speed Public Personal Mobility vehicles on public roads from the date of delivery.

Main partnership details

　- Joint development of Autoware (increase in safety quality)

　- Mutual utilization of sales and service networks

　- Sharing knowledge for mass production and provision of services

　- Secondment of directors and technicians

Tier IV company overview