TOKYO, Japan: Toyota is taking a fresh step toward autonomous driving by teaming up with Waymo to co-develop new vehicle platforms and explore future applications of self-driving tech in everyday cars.

The two companies announced this week that they will explore a collaboration focused on building a next-generation platform for autonomous vehicles. Toyota will be responsible for the vehicle architecture, and Waymo will provide the self-driving system. A company spokesperson confirmed that the platform will be used in Waymo's autonomous fleet.

In addition to the fleet rollout, the collaboration will assess how Waymo's advanced autonomous technology could be integrated into Toyota's personally owned vehicles (POVs), aiming to speed up the broader adoption of driver assistance and automated systems.

"The companies aim to further accelerate the development and adoption of driver assistance and automated driving technologies for POVs," Toyota and Waymo said in a joint statement.

Toyota's autonomous tech arm, Woven by Toyota, will also be part of the potential collaboration. Woven is behind the Arene software platform and Woven City — a real-world testbed for mobility solutions located in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture.

Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet that spun out of Google in 2016, has been steadily expanding its reach through strategic partnerships. In addition to Toyota, it has ongoing collaborations with automakers Hyundai and Zeekr, as well as ride-hailing company Uber — all of which remain active, the spokesperson added.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that in the future, people might be able to own Waymo's self-driving taxis — a move that could bring AVs into the personal vehicle space.

Earlier this month, Waymo began testing in Tokyo by conducting data collection rides with human drivers behind the wheel, aiming to better understand the city's infrastructure and driving environment.

As part of its broader push into autonomous mobility, Toyota sees the partnership as a way to combine its manufacturing expertise with Waymo's leading software to help shape the future of both shared and personally owned autonomous vehicles.