The companies didn't announce any timelines, but Toyota could be setting the stage for future vehicle announcements, be it EVs or gas-powered cars.

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).

When you think about autonomous driving, what comes to mind? Probably Waymo, Tesla, Ford BlueCruise, and GM Super Cruise. Toyota’s also in that race as the company offers a Teammate semi-autonomous driving system on the Lexus LS. It works fine, but they haven’t capitalized on its potential so it’s easy to forget.