Yamaha announces 3rd investment in Tier IV, Inc.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announced that it has made additional investments in Nagoya-based tech company, Tier IV, Inc.

This is Yamaha Motor’s third investment in the company following those made in August 2017 and July 2019. The additional investment, explained Yamaha, is for the Series B round financing through third-party allotment by Tier IV. Here, Yamaha is joined by other investors which include Sompo Holdings, Inc. and Bridgestone Corporation.

According to Yamaha, the additional investment made by the company is aimed toward establishing autonomous driving technology as well as promoting its commercialization, including its automated transport solutions business for factory grounds.

There has been no announcement as to how automated driving can affect Yamaha’s product offerings or if the Iwata-based motorcycle company will release a self-driving motorbike. However, Yamaha and Tier IV launched a joint venture in 2020 (eve autonomy, Inc.) that aims to develop an autonomous transportation service to help Yamaha Motor and other companies address chronic labor shortages and growing needs for high-mix low-volume production.

Yamaha Motor Director and Mobility Technology Division General Manager Makoto Shimamoto said in a prior press release that “eve autonomy will provide an autonomous transportation service for extra-efficient labor-saving production. By combining Yamaha Motor’s expertise in hardware and reliability with Tier IV’s speed and cutting-edge technologies, I believe we will create unprecedented value.”

“This collaboration between a leading Japanese company like Yamaha Motor and a deep-tech startup like Tier IV will be highly competitive on the global stage. By combining the expertise of our joint team and the capabilities of our Autoware, we aim to revolutionize autonomous transportation services. With the tough times the world is currently facing, we will do our best to provide something positive,” commented Tier IV Founder and CTO Shinpei Kato, in a similar press release in 2020.

Photos from Tier IV Inc. and eve autonomy, Inc.

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