Toyota: Transformation into a Mobility Company

From the presentation given at the 1st Automotive World Digital Edition 2021

2021/10/27

Summary

Lexus LSとToyota MIRAI
Lexus LS and Toyota Mirai equipped with Advanced Drive (All figures in this report are from Toyota)

  At the 1st Automotive World Digital Exhibition and Conference for Advanced Automotive Technologies held in September 2021, Mr. Hiroaki Okuchi, President, Advanced R&D and Engineering Company, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), gave a presentation titled "Transformation into a Mobility Company”. This report provides an overview of that presentation.

  Mobility is the movement of people, things, and information. This presentation introduced Toyota's approach and recent examples on the subject.

  With regard to the “Mobility of People”, Toyota is developing autonomous driving technology to achieve zero fatalities due to traffic accidents. As for MaaS (Mobility as a Service), the introduction of Level 4 autonomous driving is underway, but the cost is so high that it is difficult to install it in owner-operated cars at present. Toyota plans to introduce automated driving in owner-operated cars at Level 2 and raise it to Level 3 or higher. The company is also developing autonomous driving utilizing the "Guardian System" based on the "Teammate Concept" in which people and cars cooperate.

  With regard to "Mobility of Things", the number of heavy-duty trucks is smaller than that of passenger cars, but they travel longer distances, so it is important to reduce CO2 emissions in the transportation sector. Depending on the needs of the business operator, Toyota will proceed with the proper use and combination of BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and FCEVs (fuel cell vehicles). Mr. Okuchi introduced the test demonstration of heavy-duty fuel cell (FC) trucks being conducted in the Los Angeles port area in the United States.

  Furthermore, the e-Palette will also be used for the transportation of goods and services in addition to the transportation of people. Two platforms were introduced as the operation management systems.

  As for “Mobility of Information”, a car’s information is not only used for the car, but can also be used to create new services by linking it with information from other sources. This is where the Mobility Service Platform (MSPF), an information platform that links vehicles and services, becomes important. For smart cities, Toyota has announced that it will develop a "smart city platform" in collaboration with NTT.

  Many examples of services using car information were introduced, such as a "map of passable roads" and a system that uses the movement of windshield wipers to monitor rain that cannot be captured by ordinary rain cloud radar.

  The presentation also introduced the status of the construction of the logistics system for "Woven City," a city where people can live happily with a focus on people, which is currently under construction in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

 


Related reports:
Toyota's Development and Supply of Batteries: Investing JPY 1.5 trillion by 2030 (Oct. 2021)
Fuel Cell (FC) Technology in Toyota's New Mirai (Sep. 2021)
Toyota: Strengthening development for AD and connected, and collaborating on CASE for CVs (May 2021)
Toyota's EV strategy: “Toyota bZ4X" and "Lexus LF-Z Electrified" announced (Apr. 2021)
Toyota's Development of Vehicle Safety Technology Utilizing Big Data (Apr. 2021)
Development of Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) and Expansion of Applications (Apr. 2021)

 

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