Asian Tech Press (Mar. 24) -- Japan's Toyota and Aurora InnovationInc., a U.S. self-driving vehicle technology company, have started testing driverless ride-hailing fleet in Texas.

Aurora said in a statement that the test fleet is built by autonomous custom-designed Toyota Sienna vehicles featuring Toyota's Vehicle Control Interface (VCI) and "Sienna Autono-MaaS" (S-AM) platform.

The company is testing the driverless fleet on highways and rural streets, as well as on roads to airports.

Aurora will continue to add driverless cars to its fleet in preparation for the launch of a commercial ride-hailing network.

The Pittsburgh-based self driving car company acquired Uber's driverless division in 2020, with Uber taking a 26% stake in Aurora.