Apart from partnership for educational initiatives and technological development, Honda also made a strategic investment into the ride-hailing app company

Southeast Asian ride-hailing app company Grab today announced that it has signed an MoU with Japanese auto giant Honda Motor to collaborate on various initiatives to educational and technological initiatives. Honda also announced that it has made a strategic investment into the company.

With the goal to address “Southeast Asia’s toughest urban transportation challenges,” as the companies mentioned in a press statement, Grab and Honda are set to host driver educational programme on safety rides. It will be one of the many programmes the partnership is going to come up with, which is mentioned to also include “technological advancements.”

The partnership will be focussed on GrabBike, Grab’s motorbike-based transportation services.

“In the midst of the dramatic structural change of the mobility industry, the ‘sharing economy’ that is rapidly expanding all around the world has great potential to broaden the concept of mobility itself. For the collaboration with Grab, we will discuss how we can offer safer and more convenient products and services for our shared goal of resolving issues and challenges facing society in Southeast Asia,” said Shinji Aoyama, Operating Officer and Director of Honda.

Also Read: Telematics rising: Singaporeans can soon be rewarded for good driving behaviour

This partnership is not the first of its kind between a ride-hailing app company and a Japanese auto giant.

In May, Toyota and Uber announced a strategic partnership that also includes an undisclosed investment into Uber, which was reported by Wall Street Journal to fall below US$100 million. The partnership includes opportunities for Uber drivers to lease vehicles from Toyota and cover the payments through earnings generated as Uber drivers.

Though it was never formally confirmed, the partnership is believed to support both companies’ self-driving car ambition, with Toyota already establishing an AI research centre focussing on self-driving cars and robot helpers.

Also Read: How can technology take autonomous vehicles beyond personal cars?

In the Europe, Volkswagen is partnering with Tel Aviv-based Gett while Uber’s competitor Lyft is holding hands with General Motor.

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