Toyota Announces New Mobility EcoSystem and Concept Vehicle at CES

Toyota Motor Corporation President Ako Toyoda made an interesting announcement at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, announcing a new mobility service business alliance and an e-Palette concept vehicle that designed to meet the demands of future multi-mode transportation and business applications. The new e-Palette Alliance will leverage Toyota’s Mobility Services Platform (MSPF) in order to develop a suite of connected mobility solutions and a flexible, purpose-built vehicle. The alliance will also create a broad-based ecosystem of hardware and software that is made to help a range of companies utilize advanced mobility technology to better serve customers. Partners at the time of the launch include Amazon, DiDi, Mazda, Pizza Hut and Uber, who will collaborate on vehicle planning and application concepts. For the near future, the Alliance will focus on the development of the new e-Palette Concept vehicle that was also unveiled at CES which reflects Toyota’s visions for Automated Mobility as a Service (Autono-MaaS) applications. The fully-automated battery electric vehicle is designed to be scalable and very customizable for a range of possible applications and will allow for partner companies to install their own automated driving system and vehicle management technology. When a partner company’s automated driving system is installed, the Toyota Guardian technology will act as a safety net to ensure proper operation.

The main features of the concept vehicle include an extensive interior space with a low floor and cube shape design to optimize space and a next-generation vehicle control interface. Three sizes of the e-Palette Concept are offered with different lengths and Toyota hopes to conduct feasibility testing in various regions, including the U.S. in the early 2020s. In fact, they also hope to provide the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with mobility solutions such as the e-Palette and other innovative offerings.