$1B ‘Apple’ Investment Ignites ‘Future Mobility’ Competition Among Car Makers

In an era where major car companies are starting to take sides in the competition among cab hailing services, “Toyota” (NYSE:TM) just announced that it will make an investment in “Uber.” The investment in question will come in the form of an auto lease to drivers who want to join the cab hailing game. According to Fool, the Japanese car company has not disclosed how much the investment will be.

Mere hours before “Toyota” made the announcement about their investment in “Uber,” “Volkswagen” (NASDAQOTH:VLKAY) came forward with its intention to invest in “Gett”. The two companies are already late to the game though, as “General Motors” (NYSE:GM) has decided to bet on “Lyft” back in January.

"Against the backdrop of rapidly evolving car usage trends in recent years, the development of mobility services in new areas, including ridesharing and car-sharing, has gathered pace on a global scale. Through this agreement on the trials, Toyota and Uber will accelerate further talks in aiming to establish new services and to offer new value to customers," “Toyota” and “Uber” said in a joint statement.

Fool indicated that the move by “VW” and “Toyota” appears to be motivated by panic once “GM” started making real progress with “Lyft” in the so-called “future mobility” sector. The news that Apple is intending to place a $1 billion investment on “Didi Chuxing,” which is largely considered as the global rival of “Uber” might have finally spurred the car makers to make their decisions.

According to the Wall Street Journal though, it seems that “Uber” already had other arrangements in place to provide drivers with the car leasing program that “Toyota” will be doing. For example, the cab hailing service established “Xchange Leasing” which is an arrangement composed of several auto dealers to provide car leasing services.

“Uber” was quick to say that its deal with “Toyota” will simply supplement the arrangements they already have instead of outright replacing them. The company provided no details as to where drivers can avail the car leasing service yet though.