Toyota unveils ‘phone on four wheels’
At the Tokyo Motor Show it will also reveal a new electric vehicle, set for launch next year, and a tiny version of the hit Prius petrol-electric hybrid.
But president Akio Toyoda chose to focus on the experimental Fun Vii, which he called “a smartphone on four wheels” at a preview.
The car works like a personal computer and allows drivers to connect with dealers and others with a tap of a touch-panel door.
It has the ability to alter the content displayed on the interior and exterior with the same ease as downloading an application.
The whole vehicle body can be used as a display space, with the body colour and display content changeable at will via a smartphone. This allows the entire vehicle to function as a terminal for displaying messages or other information.
“A car must appeal to our emotions,” said Mr Toyoda, using the Japanese term “waku waku doki doki”, referring to a heart aflutter with anticipation.
The car’s interior colour is adjustable to match the mood while navigation information links with surrounding vehicles and infrastructure, allowing the driver to detect other potentially hazardous vehicles — such as cars in blind spots — in advance, or to connect with friends driving nearby.
Toyota’s booth will be a major attraction at the biannual Tokyo exhibition for the auto industry. Toyota said the Fun Vii was an example of what might be in the works in “20XX”.
The Tokyo show has been scaled back in recent years as US and European companies look to China and other places where growth potential is greater. Ford is not even taking part in the show.
Toyota’s electric vehicle FT-EV III, still a test model, does not have a price yet, but is designed for short trips such as grocery shopping and work commutes, running 65 miles (104km) on a full charge. The new small hybrid will be named Aqua in Japan, where it goes on sale next month. Overseas dates are undecided. Outside Japan it will be sold as a Prius.
Toyota is also launching a fuel-cell concept vehicle, FCV-R.
Zero-emission fuel cell vehicles, which run on hydrogen, have been viewed as impractical because of costs. Toyota said the FCV-R was a “practical” fuel-cell planned for 2015, but did not give its price.
