Toyota’s vision of smart mobility at Tokyo

Toyota Motor Corp. will have a booth in the “Smart Mobility City 2013” section at the 43rd Tokyo Motor Show. The show, to be held at Tokyo Big Sight in Koto Ward, Tokyo, will run from Wednesday up to Dec 1.

The Smart Mobility City 2013 section aims to demonstrate the new roles that vehicles could play in the daily lives of their users and society in general.

Toyota will present a vision of a not-too-distant future where mobility incorporates societal and lifestyle factors, and driving is more safe, secure and fun. The booth will showcase three of the four key fields in which Toyota believes development to be essential in realizing the Smart Mobility Society of the future.

Next-gen transpo systems

Toyota will present “Ha:mo,” a next-generation urban transport system that has been under trial in Japan since last year. Ha:mo has been designed to provide transport that is amenable to users, cities and society as a whole by optimally combining personal mobility vehicles, such as automobiles, with public transportation. The system features new mobility options such as the “Toyota i-Road” personal mobility concept car and the “COMS” ultracompact single-occupant electric vehicle.

Mobility options on display:

— Toyota i-Road (Japan premiere of vehicle for verification testing). The Toyota i-Road is a personal mobility vehicle that offers a novel riding experience in an ultracompact package that combines the convenience of a motorcycle with the comfort and stability of a car.

In early 2014, the vehicle will be introduced to the Ha:mo urban traffic system currently being tested in Japan.

— COMS. This will be the first showing of the two-seater “T COM” vehicle developed by Toyota Auto Body Co. Ltd. The T COM will take part in the Ha:mo project from the middle of December.

— Winglet. The “Winglet” is an ultracompact personal transport assistance robot that makes innovative use of robot control technologies and a unique parallel link mechanism.

The Winglet is ridden in a standing position and can be operated simply by shifting body weight.

Intelligent transpo systems

Through the use of automated driving technologies and driving support systems, Toyota aims to ensure safe and environment-friendly mobility while keeping the driver in ultimate control. Toyota’s booth will feature advanced driving support technologies that allow vehicles to communicate with infrastructure, pedestrians and other vehicles.

— Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Cooperative Driving Simulator. Here, visitors can learn about environment-friendly driving support systems that use road-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-vehicle and pedestrian-to-vehicle communication to reduce the likelihood of traffic accidents.

— Intelligent Driver-Support Systems. Toyota plans to use Intelligent Driver-Support Systems to achieve its ultimate goal of eliminating traffic injuries and fatalities. As an important step toward that goal, Toyota’s Automated Highway Driving Assist promotes safe and skillful driving by combining Cooperative-Adaptive Cruise Control (C-ACC) and Lane Trace Control (LTC), two brand-new features. C-ACC uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to adapt quickly to the deceleration and acceleration of other vehicles, while LTC uses sensors to detect lane lines and steers to ensure that an optimal driving line is maintained.

Next-gen telematics

Thanks to advances in information and communication technology, mobility is becoming more comfortable, appealing and efficient than ever. Toyota is creating systems for gathering and processing data, and turning these into information that are useful to both large- and small-scale users. The Toyota booth will showcase some recent developments in this field.

— Big Data Traffic Information Service. This new service collects large-scale driving data (including vehicle position, speed and other statistical data), which are then used by local governments and businesses for traffic flow improvement, map information and disaster response measures.

Through this kind of service, Toyota hopes that “big data” will contribute to urban development that is more convenient, comfortable and disaster-resilient.

— Voice Recognition Agent. This cloud-based voice-operated service enables users to search for and set destinations in an intuitive manner. The system even supports colloquial or ambiguous expressions and achieves superior data processing capacity thanks to the Toyota Smart Center. Toyota will continue to develop related services, such as a recommendation service that uses behavioral prediction and driver preference history to provide information by voice.

— Smart G-BOOK. “Smart G-BOOK” is a newly developed smartphone-based navigation service that provides total travel support, whether the user is driving or walking.

The service incorporates the voice recognition agent function and T-Probe traffic information, and adjusts for traffic congestion. It can also help mitigate the impact of disasters by showing available routes and providing directions to evacuation shelters.

Other exhibits

In the Rooftop Exhibition Area, visitors will be able to test-drive the Intelligent Parking Assist system that steers during parking and the Intelligent Clearance Sonar  system that detects obstacles and applies the brakes when setting off (even in the event of acceleration due to pedal misapplication).

A Winglet will also be on display at the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association booth in the West Exhibition Hall.