TOKYO, April 30 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor ( TM ) and

Alphabet's Waymo on Wednesday said they have agreed to

explore a collaboration on speeding up the development and

deployment of autonomous driving technology.

The two companies in a joint statement said they aim to

combine respective strengths to develop an autonomous vehicle

platform, while also exploring ways to enhance next-generation

personally owned vehicles (POVs).

They will discuss the possibility of expanding the scope of

their collaboration, they said.