Bengaluru- Toyota Motor Corp said it reached an agreement with Ford Motor to explore collaboration for the implementation of Ford's SmartDeviceLink (SDL) technology in future Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

SDL is an open source platform that integrates smartphones apps with vehicles through dashboard buttons, display screens and voice recognition technology.

Toyota is engaging with the SDL project and investigating further partnership with Ford and its wholly-owned subsidiary Livio, the project maintainer for the SmartDeviceLink software, Ford said in a statement.

Toyota and Ford agreed to collaborate on development of next generation standards for in-car telematics in August 2011, Toyota said.

Ford created the SDL software in February 2013 to contribute to its in-car smartphone app interface called Applink as an open-source project, Ford said.