Toyota Motor Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo will explore collaboration on autonomous-driving technology, a potential boost to the Japanese carmaker’s efforts to catch up to the cutting-edge systems offered by major rivals.

Toyota Motor and Waymo, the autonomous driving tech company owned by Google-parent Alphabet, have announced a preliminary agreement to explore a partnership in autonomous vehicle development. According to an official blog post by Waymo,

Toyota Motor and Alphabet's Waymo said on Wednesday they will explore collaborating on the development of a new autonomous vehicle platform and ways to enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles (POVs).