Toyota To Team Up With ALBERT For Self-Driving Technology

Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) announced that it has decided to team up with ALBERT Inc. to analyze big data for the advancement of automated driving technology. Additionally, Toyota is expected to invest ¥400 million in ALBERT and is likely to acquire new shares of the company through a third-party share allocation dated May 30, 2018.

ALBERT is a data-driven, analytical data-solution firm that offers services in Japan. In recent years, the company is growing in imagery analysis for the development of automated driving technologies. The collaboration will enable Toyota to support its data-analysis processes for the advancement of its artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

This is not the first initiative taken by Toyota to develop self-driving technologies. In March, the company announced the creation of Tokyo-based Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development with an investment of ¥300 billion ($2.8 billion). Prior to this, in January 2016, the company established the advanced research company, Toyota Research Institute (“TRI”) in the United States.

Toyota Motor Corporation Price and Consensus

Toyota Motor Corporation Price and Consensus | Toyota Motor Corporation Quote

In early 2017, the company committed $1 billion to its California-based TRI to develop advanced automated driving and AI technology. Also, in sync with the investment, Toyota made technology partnerships with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Uber Technologies.

Price Performance

Year to date, Toyota’s stock has moved up 7.1%, outperforming 1.4% gain of the industry it belongs to.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Toyota currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the auto space are Visteon Corporation (NASDAQ:VC) , Ferrari N.V. (NYSE:RACE) and Peugeot SA (OTC:PUGOY) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Visteon Corporation has an expected long-term growth rate of 15%. In a year’s time, shares of the company have gained 32.8%.

Ferrari has an expected long-term growth rate of 17.3%. Shares of the company have risen 61.8% over the past year.

Peugeot has an expected long-term growth rate of 19.2%. Shares of the company have risen 16.3% over the past year.

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