Toyota is seeking new ideas from startup companies that are working on smart cities. The Japanese automaker, through its Toyota AI Ventures venture capital firm, said at CES in January that it will award funding ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to early-stage startups in what it's calling a worldwide "call for innovation."
The company says it is especially interested in ideas around mobility and autonomous vehicles; electrification and its effect on cutting pollution and congestion; making home and building construction more efficient; and helping people accomplish routine tasks.
To be eligible, startups should work in the fields of artificial intelligence, autonomy, cloud, data, mobility and/or robotics and have raised less than $3 million, have a working prototype and have an achievable business model.
