Toyota
Latest
Toyota is forming a $2.8-billion company for self-driving research
Toyota's autonomous vehicle dreams are too big to contain, so it's establishing a new company to speed up its technology's development. The automaker has teamed up with fellow Japanese entities Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. and Denso Corporation to form the Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development or TRI-AD. While they're still figuring out how things will work in their joint venture, they have a clear goal in mind: to develop a "fully-integrated, production-quality software for automated driving."
Toyota's next EV motor could use 50 percent less rare earth metals
Toyota has designed a magnet that halves the amount of rare earths needed in its electric cars, which could help mitigate the fall out of a looming materials shortage. Like other electric carmakers, Toyota has traditionally used neodymium, terbium and dysprosium in its electric vehicles, but it believes demand for these materials will outstrip supply come 2025. The new magnet uses the rare earths lanthanum and cerium instead, which are more plentiful and cost 20 times less than neodymium.
Toyota caves to pressure and adds CarPlay to new models
Many car manufacturers have joined the modern era by adopting Android Auto, Apple CarPlay or both, but not Toyota. It insisted on going its own way, and that has usually meant skipping its cars entirely if you cared about smartphone integration. Thankfully, the automaker has seen the light. The 2019 Avalon and future models (including Lexus vehicles) with an Entune 3.0 or Enform 2.0 system will support Apple CarPlay, letting you use the more sophisticated apps from your iPhone instead of making do with limited built-in features. CarPlay will be standard on all Avalon trim levels when the sedan goes on sale in late spring, although that's no guarantee it'll be standard on other models.
Toyota insists its e-Palette is more than a concept car
There's one thing that keeps Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda up at night. It's not a traditional car company like Honda, Ford or Nissan. Or what he's going to have for breakfast the next day. It's technology juggernauts like Facebook, Google and Apple and what might happen when they decide to enter the automotive industry proper. Will the company be ready? Is it doing enough to stay ahead of a potential broadside from Silicon Valley? The answer, Toyoda believes, is to morph Toyota into a data and smart mobility company. One that's less about selling cars and trucks and more about moving people, products and services in the most efficient way possible.
Engadget Today | CES 2018: It's a wrap!
That's it, the show's over! It's been a wild ride, as usual. After landing here a week ago, we're glad to be packing up and heading back to our own homes, but we'll always have a soft spot in our hearts for the LVCC. We can't wait to see all the new gadgets from the show in the review lab, but for now, it's adios, see you next year. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.
Ford will fit auto emergency brakes on two 2019 models
Ford always seems to be on the back foot when it comes to vehicle innovation -- it only began working on a robotics team last year, for example. Now the brand is playing catch-up again, announcing plans to install automatic emergency brakes as standard on two key 2019 models, which is something its rivals have been doing for a while.
Toyota is the latest automaker to add Alexa to its cars
Using Alexa in your car is getting more ubiquitous. Ford, Hyundai and Volkswagen all have plans for Amazon's voice-controlled tech, and third parties like Anker, Panasonic, Garmin and Logitech have their own strategy to help you use Alexa while you drive. Now, Toyota has plans to include Amazon's intelligent assistant in select Toyota and Lexus vehicles starting this year. The company also announced at CES that more models will include Alexa via the Toyota Entune and Lexus Enform in-car app systems in 2019.
Toyota introduces e-Palette, its mobile retail space
One of the big themes of this year's CES is mobility and Japanese automaker Toyota isn't about to be left out. Today at the annual consumer electronics conference, the company that brought us the Prius announced its mobile retail space, e-Palette meant to open up opportunities for businesses to create on-demand services and to "blur the lines between brick and mortar and online commerce."
Toyota's new self-driving test car can better recognize small objects
Toyota Research Institute (TRI) will debut the latest version of its automated driving research vehicle at CES next week. TRI had three major goals with this latest model and Platform 3.0 incorporates them all into a car with more perception capabilities, a design that's easier to produce at scale and a much sleeker look. "To elevate our test platform to a new level, we tapped Toyota's design and engineering expertise to create an all-new test platform that has the potential to be a benchmark in function and style," TRI CEO Gill Pratt said in a statement.
BMW partnership will develop solid-state EV batteries
BMW is jumping into the solid-state battery game and it's doing so by teaming up with battery-developer Solid Power. The company is a spin-out from the University of Colorado Boulder and has been developing solid-state rechargeable batteries since 2012. BMW is partnering with Solid Power to bring its battery technology to electric vehicles. "Since the company's inception, the Solid Power team has worked to develop and scale a competitive solid-state battery paying special attention to safety, performance and cost," Doug Campbell, founder and CEO of Solid Power, said in a statement. "Collaborating with BMW is further validation that solid-state battery innovations will continue to improve electric vehicles."
Toyota plans to offer more than 10 EV models by the early 2020s
Toyota recently hinted that it was finally ready to embrace pure electric cars, and now we have a better sense of what that commitment entails. The automaker has outlined its goals for low- and zero-emission cars in the next decade, and it expects to field "more than 10" EVs worldwide by the early 2020s, starting with China before spreading to markets like Europe, Japan and the US. And by 2025, every Toyota and Lexus will either be EV-only or have an electrified option like a hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell.
Toyota and Panasonic explore 'prismatic' EV batteries together
Toyota and Panasonic are teaming up on batteries that Toyota itself and other automakers could use in future electric cars. Rather than building cylindrical batteries like the type that Tesla and other EV makers use, the two companies are exploring the development of "prismatic" cells. Those are square, flat batteries with aluminum housings and are typically used in cell phones. They can be made smaller and lighter than battery packs that use cylindrical cells, but tend to cost more and are vulnerable to overheating and swelling.
Honda and Toyota are still backing hydrogen fuel-cell cars
Toyota, Honda and Nissan are partnering with eight industrial firms to make a fresh push on hydrogen refuelling stations in Japan. The group wants to build 80 stations within the first four years of the partnership -- which is expected to last a decade -- with nine in operation by March 2018. The plan would nearly double the 91 stations currently in the country.
An electric cargo ship is delivering coal in China
An all-electric cargo ship is now in use in China and it boasts an impressive 2.4 MWh energy storage capacity, Electrek reports. The ship is over 230 feet long, 45 feet wide and 14 feet deep and can carry a maximum of 2,000 tons. Supercapacitors and lithium batteries make up the energy storage system and the ship can go about 50 miles on one charge. It will run between two shipyards, each of which has a charging station that can recharge the ship in around two hours.
Toyota's FT-AC concept is an Instagram-ready offroader
If you've ever thought, "I'd really like to be able to record all my drives both on-road and off," the Toyota FT-AC (Future Toyota Adventure Concept)crossover is the vehicle for you. With detachable infrared cameras on the side mirrors that record your jaunts, it's the Instagram-ready car of your active-lifestyle dreams.
Toyota's upgraded safety system detects pedestrians at night
Toyota is among the swarm of automakers promising a safer driving future in the shape of autonomous vehicles. But, seeing as we're still stuck in the present, it's adding another notch to its safety advancement belt with its next-gen SafetySense (TSS) tech for regular cars. The upgraded suite -- a mix of tweaks to existing safety systems and brand-spanking new functions -- will roll out on "select vehicles" in mid-2018. Toyota is not explicitly stating the models that will get it first. But, if its near-standard automatic braking is anything to go by, the tech should spread rapidly.
Toyota's T-HR3 robot mimics your movements
While Honda's ASIMO has taken much of the attention for automaker-built robots, Toyota has been working on humanoid helpers of its own for years, and now it's unveiling a third-generation model. The THR-3 expands on previous models built to test specific joints and movements by putting together a full body to be controlled by a human operating its Master Maneuvering System. The force feedback-enabled control system includes a head-mounted display (HTC Vive), "data glove" and torque servos that allows the operator to "instantly manipulate" the robot by mapping their motions and force precisely.
After Math: On the road again
Tesla had quite the week. Not only did the upstart carmaker get to show off its new semi and roadster, it also unveiled its multi-station Supercharger rest stop and managed to get itself onto the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit alleging pervasive racism throughout its ranks. Numbers, because how else will you know how many times this week your supervisors have greeted you with an n-bomb?
Toyota plans to start selling EVs in China in 2020
Toyota recently announced plans to design and build EVs with Mazda in the US, but it has big plans elsewhere, too. The automaker will produce electric cars in both China and India starting in 2020, it said in a pair of press releases. Up until now, Toyota has focused on hydrogen and hybrid vehicles as green options, but its recent political and environmental developments have forced its hand. China, for one, aims to have two million EVs and hybrids on the road by 2019, and India plans to ban gas-powered vehicle sales completely by 2030.
What you need to know before buying an EV
It's an exciting time for the automotive world. Over the past 15 years, cars have gone from relatively dumb machines that get us to our destinations to electrified, connected gadgets. In the coming decade, the technology being developed by traditional automakers and nascent upstarts will not only transform the way we drive, but change how cities operate.
