Like Tesla, Toyota Is Now Giving Away Its Patents
CEO Elon Musk, from my perspective, was trying to avoid a total collapse of the nascent electric car market. A number of new car companies that emerged around the same time as Tesla have failed. Musk doesn't want to be operating in a market of one.
Now Toyota has followed suit, but with a different propulsion system: hydrogen fuel cells. The company made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday.
"At Toyota, we believe that when good ideas are shared, great things can happen," said Bob Carter, Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations at Toyota Motor Sales, USA Inc., in a statement.
He added:
However, according to the company, "[T]oday's announcement represents the first time that Toyota has made its patents available free of charge and reflects the company's aggressive support for developing a hydrogen-based society."
Toyota partnered with Tesla on electric-car technology development and until recently owned a stake in Musk's firm.
Toyota's motives are probably similar to Tesla's: the Japanese automotive giant wants to turbocharge hydrogen fuel-cell development and doesn't want to be the only company striving to innovate in the space.
Interestingly, of course, if fuel-cells take off in a big way they could pose a meaningful threat to the ascent of electric cars. So there's a battle of sorts brewing, with bets being placed on differing technologies while companies takes pages from each other's strategic playbooks.