SoftBank is leading a $280mn funding round in US location-mapping company Mapbox, as the Japanese conglomerate’s founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son steps up his dealmaking in artificial intelligence.
The investment in San Francisco-based Mapbox, according to people close to SoftBank, is part of a push into AI that fulfils Son’s promise to go on the “counteroffensive” and has included discussions with multiple potential investment targets including OpenAI.
Mapbox software sits behind the in-car navigation systems of Toyota, BMW, General Motors and others — systems that are increasingly adaptive to changing conditions and whose ability to process new information will be critical as vehicles become more autonomous.
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