While all that sounds very tentative, it boils down to this: Waymo has the self-driving tech, and Toyota has the cars. Sometime down the line, the two companies might start selling Toyota-built cars with Waymo's autonomous driving technology to end users.

Toyota Motor Corporation announced this week that it has reached an agreement with US autonomous driving technology company Waymo LLC to explore opportunities to collaborate in accelerating the development and deployment of autonomous driving technologies.

Waymo and Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) announced a preliminary deal to jointly explore developing a new autonomous vehicle platform and ways to enhance next-generation personally owned vehicles. The collaboration will focus on further accelerating the development and deployment of driver assistance and automated driving technologies.