NEWSWORTHY
AI robot duo to guide visitors during test trial at Tokyo Station
East Japan Railway Co. on Wednesday showed the media a test trial of two artificial intelligence robots designed to guide passengers at Tokyo Station. The robots — Pepper of SoftBank Robotics Corp. and SEMMI of German railway company Deutsche Bahn AG — were deployed at ...
Toyota considers offering self-driving technology to ride-hailing firms in Asia
Toyota Motor Corp. is considering offering autonomous driving technologies to ride-hailing firms, sources close to the matter said Thursday, in its latest push to become a company offering not only cars but also various mobility services. The automaker is planning to supply a new driverless ...
Line Pay ¥30 billion campaign will allow users to send free ¥1,000 to all their friends
Line has about 80 million active users in Japan, of which about 32 million are registered Line Pay users, according to the firm.
Will government pressure slash Japan's intricate web of smartphone fees?
Last August, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga dropped a bombshell remark that rattled Japan's mobile phone industry: "There is room to lower people's smartphone bills by around 40 percent." In the wake of the remarks by the government's top spokesman, a bill aimed at facilitating ...
Days after announcing tripling of profits, SoftBank market value slides $9 billion as Uber IPO flops
Last Thursday, as his company booked a $3.8 billion gain from its stake in Uber Technologies Inc., Masayoshi Son told SoftBank Group Corp. investors that their time had finally come. Instead, they're still waiting. The day after Son's earnings presentation, SoftBank slid 5.4 percent and ...
The Diet enacted a legal revision Friday aimed at lowering mobile phone fees and spurring competition in the country's saturated telecoms market. Amid criticism that Japan's carriers charge too much compared with those in other countries, the bill passed by the Upper House to amend ...
SoftBank to make Yahoo Japan a subsidiary, lifting expected sales and profits
Telecommunications carrier SoftBank Corp. said Wednesday it will make Yahoo Japan Corp. a consolidated subsidiary. The share acquisition will help SoftBank log record consolidated sales and operating profit in the year ending in March 2020. At present, Yahoo Japan is under the wing of SoftBank ...
GM autonomous vehicle unit to receive $1.15 billion investment from Honda and others
GM Cruise Holdings LLC, a self-driving car unit of U.S. auto giant General Motors Co., said Tuesday it will receive a $1.15 billion (¥126 billion) investment from a group of existing investors, including Honda Motor Co. The parent company of the GM unit and SoftBank ...
SoftBank said to be considering IPO for $100 billion Vision Fund
If pursued, an IPO would give investors in the fund a way to cash out part or all of their stakes.
SoftBank and Google parent tie up on flying 5G stations for phone services using balloons and drones
Mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. and Google LLC parent Alphabet Inc. said Thursday they will jointly set up airborne mobile phone base stations, using balloons and aircraft in the stratosphere, to cover wider areas for next-generation 5G wireless services. SoftBank's year-old HAPSMobile and Alphabet's Loon, ...
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son lost $130 million in bad bet on bitcoin, report says
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son made a huge personal bet on bitcoin just as prices peaked, losing more than $130 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
