Have you seen Season 4 of Black Mirror? Have you watched The Fifth Element? In fact, have you ever seen any TV show or film that is set in the future? Then you may already have seen a glimpse at what Toyota is developing.
At CES 2018, Toyota announced that they will be working with a number of companies to form the “e-Pallette Alliance”. Motor Corporation President of Toyota, Akio Toyoda (I know, TOYODA) had this to say:
“The concept reflects one of Toyota’s visions for Automated Mobility as a Service (Autono-MaaS) applications. It is a fully-automated, next-generation battery electric vehicle (BEV) designed to be scalable and customizable for a range of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) businesses…the e-Palette Concept Vehicle’s open vehicle control interface and a set of software tools to allow partner companies to install their own automated driving system and vehicle management technology.”
Okay, so that all seems very complicated and complex, what it really means is that they want to create self-driving vehicles to provide various services to businesses and people around the world. Services mentioned include food delivery, package delivery, and even medical treatment for people. There was even talk of Uber! A late-night taxi home will never be the same!
The “plug-and-play open platform” would offer companies, like Uber or Pizza Hut, to fully customize their vehicle and program it to their needs, enabling them to go fully mobile.
Admittedly the earliest that we are going to see this concept come to life will be at the 2020 Olympics in Japan, but it is a seriously cool concept and who knows, maybe it won’t be too long until our pizza arrives via driverless vehicle?
If you think this is the only weirdly Black Mirror-esque technology coming our way, the think again. See how the homeless might be benefiting from technology in 2018.
