HONG KONG/BEIJING — Autonomous driving firm Pony.ai said on Wednesday it has raised $462 million (425 million pounds) in its latest funding round, led by an investment by Japan's largest automaker Toyota.
Toyota invested around $400 million in the round, Pony.ai said in a statement, marking its biggest investment in an autonomous driving company with a Chinese background.
As the number of cases of new coronavirus increase in Japan, false accusations against Chinese people and groundless rumors are spreading. The health ministry is calling on people not to be taken in by the misinformation.
The ministry says false posts on Chinese have gone viral on social media since the outbreak. It says officials have been repeatedly contacted through telephone and email by people passing along the rumor that "Chinese are intentionally spreading the virus for the purpose of terrorism."
A Japanese lawmaker who was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes from a Chinese company has also admitted to receiving thousands of dollars' worth of luxury brand goods.
Lower House member Tsukasa Akimoto was arrested last month on suspicion of receiving about 27,000 dollars from a Chinese firm called 500.com in 2017.