Toyota Motor Corp. has invested $400 million in Chinese autonomous driving technology startup Pony.ai to expand their cooperation in self-driving vehicle development to mobility services, the two companies said Wednesday.

The investment comes after the companies announced their tie-up in August last year, jointly testing an autonomous driving system on Toyota's Lexus luxury brand vehicles in China.

"In addition to co-developing autonomous driving technology, Pony.ai and Toyota will look beyond the vehicle itself to explore further possibilities in mobility services," Poni.ai said in a statement.

Pony.ai was founded in 2016 with its development bases in China and California.

==Kyodo

© Kyodo News International, Inc., source Newswire