Was the influence of Taoism on Buddhism responsible for the development of Mahayana?

In this Partially Examined Life podcast , the presenters stated that when Buddhism moved into Chinese, it naturally was influenced by the pre-existing Taoist philosophy. This is uncontroversial. However, they went on to make a stronger claim: > it was the influence of Taoism that was responsible for the development of Mahayana. That is quite a claim and obviously the real position is more complex. However, is there any truth in that statement? Was Taoism instrumental in the development of Mahayana Buddhism?