MONET Technologies Inc.
Hino Motors, Ltd.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
MONET Technologies Inc. (“MONET”), a joint venture between SoftBank Corp. and Toyota Motor Corporation, today announced that on March 28, 2019, it concluded an agreement for a capital and business partnership with Hino Motors, Ltd. (“Hino”) and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (“Honda”) to increase the value of its MaaS business and enhance mobility service levels for users. Hino and Honda each plan to invest 249.95 million yen in MONET and acquire 9.998% of its shares.
Junichi Miyakawa, President and CEO of MONET Technologies Inc. and Representative Director & CTO of SoftBank Corp., commented on the partnership as follows:
“This partnership will allow us to coordinate the vehicle data on passenger and object mobility that Hino collects from its trucks and buses and the data Honda obtains from its mobility services that utilize passenger cars and other vehicles so we can further evolve the MONET platform. By integrating these wide and varied datasets, MONET will build an advanced MaaS platform that helps enable an autonomous driving society and realizes safe and comfortable mobility services to enrich people’s lives.”
Yoshio Shimo, President & CEO, Member of the Board of Hino Motors, Ltd., commented as follows:
“As a company dedicated to manufacturing trucks and buses, for many years Hino Motors has supported the transport of people and goods in partnership with transport operators. Our role is to create new value by realizing the products and services wished for by our customers and society, and we decided that participating in MONET was the best way to further accelerate this endeavor. Through this partnership, we will strive to achieve our vision of creating a world where people and goods move freely, safely and efficiently, and a sustainable world that is prosperous and pleasant to live in.”
Takahiro Hachigo, President, Representative Director and CEO of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., commented as follows:
“Through this collaboration with MONET, Honda hopes to realize the more efficient promotion of acquiring users and social acceptance of mobility services, various experimental projects, and public relations activities for necessary regulatory changes. Honda wants to contribute to the revitalization of the mobility service industry in Japan and solve traffic-related problems facing Japanese society.”
Working to help realize a safer and more comfortable mobility society, in this partnership MONET will team up with Hino and Honda with the aim of resolving social mobility issues and creating new value.
*Investments are expected to close by the end of May.