Toyota said it was making an undisclosed investment in Uber with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two firms to explore collaborations for ridesharing in specific markets.

The partnership will include new leasing options in which car purchasers can lease their vehicles from Toyota Financial Services and cover their payments through earnings generated as Uber drivers. The leasing period will be flexible and based on driver needs.  

“Ridesharing has huge potential in terms of shaping the future of mobility. Through this collaboration with Uber, we would like to explore new ways of delivering secure, convenient and attractive mobility services to customers,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, senior managing officer of Toyota Motor Corporation and president of the Connected Company, one of Toyota Motor Corporation’s recently created in-house companies.

Toyota and Uber said they will also explore collaboration in a variety of other areas, such as developing in-car apps that support Uber drivers, sharing knowledge and accelerating their respective research efforts, and establishing a special fleet program to sell Toyota and Lexus vehicles to Uber drivers.

In addition, the Volkswagen Group said it is investing $300m (€269.2m) in global ride-hailing provider Gett, formerly known as GetTaxi.

It added that the partnership is based on a joint growth strategy to expand on-demand mobility services in Europe.

In a statement, the group said: “The ride-hailing market represents the greatest market potential in on-demand mobility, while creating the technological platform for developing tomorrow's mobility business models.”

“Alongside our pioneering role in the automotive business, we aim to become a world leading mobility provider by 2025,” added Matthias Müller, chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. “Within the framework of our future Strategy 2025, the partnership with Gett marks the first milestone for the Volkswagen Group on the road to providing integrated mobility solutions that spotlight our customers and their mobility needs.”

Earlier this year, GM announced it was to invest in US ridesharing firm, Lyft.