Bridgestone Invests in TIER IV,

a Start-up Developing Software for Autonomous Driving

 

  • Bridgestone announced today that it will invest in TIER IV, Inc., a start-up which leads the development of “Autoware”, the world’s first open-source software for autonomous driving, and provides solutions necessary to develop and manage autonomous driving vehicles to various partners.
 
  • “Bridgestone Innovation Park” and its proving ground “B-Mobility” will be the place of the co-creation activities with TIER IV and Bridgestone, Bridgestone will contribute to deployment of autonomous driving technology, which will also benefit to accelerate the development of advanced tire technology and next-generation mobility solutions.
 
  • Bridgestone has committed to non-stop mobility and innovation that keeps people and the world moving ahead though this co-creation, aligns with the “Extension” value of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment.

 

Tokyo (July 19, 2022) — Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone) announced today that it will invest in TIER IV, Inc. (TIER IV*1), a start-up which leads the development of “Autoware”*2, the world’s first open-source software*3 for autonomous driving, and provides solutions necessary to develop and manage autonomous driving vehicles to various partners. Bridgestone will contribute to establishment and deployment of autonomous driving technology through co-creation with TIER IV. The Bridgestone Group has been contributing evolution of mobility by supporting autonomous driving technology globally, these activities are aligned with "Extension: Committed to nonstop mobility and innovation that keeps people and the world moving ahead" in the "Bridgestone E8 Commitment."*4

 

“Autoware”, whose development is led by TIER IV based in Japan, has all functions necessary to design autonomous driving, and has been conducted a large number of on-site testing for implementation of autonomous driving with safety under various types of environments all over the world. On July 19 2022, TIER IV was adopted by the Green Innovation Fund promoted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan, as a research and development project related with autonomous driving.

 

Bridgestone decided the investment because it can accelerate to develop advanced tire technologies and next-generation mobility solutions by learning from expertise about autonomous driving technology which TIER IV has. These co-creation activities will contribute to the improvement of safety and efficiency of mobility.

 

TIER IV and Bridgestone will utilize “Bridgestone Innovation Park”*5, Bridgestone’s new global innovation hub whose full-scale operation has started in April 2022 for co-creation. Particularly they will realize agile R&D activities which repeat the process “develop and test immediately” by experiencing and evaluating performance of mobility with autonomous driving in a proving ground “B-Mobility”

Evaluation of performance of mobility with autonomous driving in “B-Mobility”

 

Based on its corporate commitment, "Bridgestone E8 Commitment," the Group is committed to realizing and supporting a sustainable society, together with employees, society, its partners, and customers by earning empathy and promoting co-creation.

 

＜Overview of TIER IV＞

1.　Company: TIER IV, Inc.

2.　Headquarter: 1-1-3 Meieki Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, 450-6627, Aichi, Japan

3.　Representative：Kazuya Takeda

4.　Number of Employees: Approximately 300 (As of June 30, 2022)

5.　Type of Business：Development and Service Provision of Autonomous Driving Technology

 

*1 Click here for more information of Tier IV

*2 “Autoware” is the registered trademark of “The Autoware Foundation”.

*3 Open-source software is software that is distributed with its source code, making it available for use, modification, and distribution with its original rights.

*4 The Bridgestone Group newly established its corporate commitment, the "Bridgestone E8 Commitment" to realize its vision: "Toward 2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company." This commitment will serve as the Group's axis to drive management while earning the trust of future generations. The "Bridgestone E8 Commitment" consists of 8 Bridgestone-like values starting with the letter "E" (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, and Empowerment) that the Group will commit to creating through Bridgestone-like "purpose" and "process," together with employees, society, its partners and customers to realize a sustainable society.

https://www.bridgestone.com/corporate/news/2022030101.html

*5 The solutions business, which the Bridgestone Group has identified as a growth business, amplifies value to customers when they use tires. It maximizes the value provided by the Group through coordination with its core tire business. The Group promotes various global initiatives in three businesses: Tire-centric solutions, retail & service, and mobility solutions. By expanding the solutions business, the Group continues to accelerate its growth as a resilient business adaptable to change. Click here for more information about the growth business and the solutions business of Bridgestone (Bridgestone 3.0 Journey 2022 Integrated Report).

*6 Click here for more information of Bridgestone Innovation Park

 

About Bridgestone Corporation:

Bridgestone is a global leader in tires and rubber building on its expertise to provide solutions for safe and sustainable mobility. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company employs approximately 140,000 people globally and conducts business in more than 150 countries and territories worldwide. Bridgestone offers a diverse product portfolio of premium tires and advanced solutions backed by innovative technologies, improving the way people around the world move, live, work and play.