KUALA LUMPUR (June 8): Yinson Holdings Bhd has entered into a deal with Singapore's SMRT Corp Ltd's corporate venture arm to co-invest an undisclosed amount in an autonomous vehicle start-up named MooVita Pte Ltd.

In a statement today, Yinson said the co-investment with SMRT Ventures aims to accelerate the development, commercialisation and international expansion of MooVita's driverless solutions, beginning with the deployment of safe and comfortable driverless solutions for public transportation and the urban environment.

"This is achievable by leveraging on Yinson's extensive experience in the logistics solution and energy industries, as well as SMRT Ventures and the transport ecosystem in Singapore," the energy infrastructure and technology group said.

It added that as the lead investor in this fundraising round by MooVita, the investment marks Yinson's first foray into mobility — one of the three segments alongside marine and energy that it is actively earmarking under its newly established Yinson Green Technologies Division.

Yinson's group executive vice president for new ventures and technology, Eirik Barclay, said the investment is in line with the division's ambition of accelerating the global transition into a low carbon economy through green technology investments.

"Our plan is to replace existing infrastructure and develop innovative business solutions in order to make transportation sustainable through the adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies.

"The co-investment in MooVita presents a wonderful opportunity to contribute back to the sustainable transportation infrastructure in Singapore, and there are future plans to operationalise the technology in Malaysia, where Yinson was founded and is currently headquartered," Barclay added.

MooVita co-founder and chief operating officer Dilip Limbu said the company will focus on advancing its driverless technologies, building a fleet of driverless shuttle buses, and additionally expediting the deployment of MooVita's driverless public transport solutions starting from Singapore and Malaysia.  

The start-up was established in 2016, specialising in designing and deploying roadworthy autonomous vehicles in urban cities. It is developing a component-based driverless software solution, which transforms various vehicle types into autonomous vehicles for varying driving conditions and applications.

Yinson's share price closed 13 sen or 2.58% lower at RM4.90, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM5.39 billion.