Toyota presents its vision of the future to the world

Emphasis placed on electrification, intelligence and connectivity for marque's new models

Toyota Motor Corporation, together with Toyota Group, is presenting its vision of future mobility at the ongoing China International Import Expo, in the hope of contributing to Chinese society with its emphasis on electrification, intelligence and connectivity.

"The automotive industry is amid unprecedented changes and we are transforming into a mobility solutions provider from a car manufacturer in an effort to provide 'Mobility for All'," said Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Toyota Motor's senior managing officer and CEO of Toyota Motor's China Region.

"We'd like to do what we can to help provide solutions to issues related to China's environment, transportation and aging society, concerns of many other countries as well, and that's why we have presented the vision at the expo," said Kobayashi, who is also chairman and president of Toyota (China) Investment Co.

At its booth, Toyota is showcasing a range of solutions in three zones: Living, Hydrogen Technology and Society and Coexistence with Nature.

The e-Palette concept, an electric, connected and autonomous vehicle, is one of the most important highlights at the first and third zones.

Making its Chinese premiere at the expo, the e-Palette can help to create an extensive ecosystem of hardware and software designed to help a range of companies utilize connected and autonomous driving technology and provide on-demand, just-in-time products and services to better serve their customers.

"It is not just for moving humans and goods from point A to point B, and it will revolutionize our way of thinking, bringing retail outlets to customers, instead of requiring customers to go to a retail outlet to buy goods," said Dong Changzheng, executive vice-president of Toyota (China) Investment Co.

Toyota has inked deals with a number of partners include Amazon, Didi, Mazda, Pizza Hut and Uber, and these companies will collaborate with Toyota in vehicle planning and application concepts to deliver their products and services to customers.

At its booth, the carmaker demonstrates mobile cafes, offices and even hospitals developed based on the e-Palette to offer people smart and convenient services.

With this vision, the company said it hopes to introduce a new form of mobility that changes the lives of people.

In the zone called Hydrogen Technology and Society, Toyota is outlining a blueprint that reflects China's vision that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", which means environmental protection is a prerequisite of social development and economic growth, according to Dong.

Toyota is also showing its use of emission-free hydrogen energy as well as agricultural activities in accordance with the Toyota Production System, a system developed from its manufacturing process. The TPS, an integrated socio-technical system, has designing out overburden and inconsistency, and eliminating waste as some of its major objectives.

The company is also demonstrating its hydrogen-consuming fuel cell vehicles, ranging from the Mirai passenger sedan to the Sora bus, and other commercial vehicles such as hydrogen-powered light-duty trucks and forklifts.

According to Dong, fuel cell vehicles will play an important role in helping Toyota to realize its goal of new vehicles' zero emissions by 2050.

He said hydrogen is easy to store and high in energy content, hydrogen fuel cell cars do not emit CO2 and they are as convenient to use as gasoline ones, so Toyota made them one of the most important models in its new energy vehicle lineup.

"Fuel cell vehicles and autonomous driving have the potential to help solve issues such as traffic accidents, congestion and an aging society. Hopefully they will contribute to a future that is CO2-free, clean, safe and in line with the objectives outlined by the Chinese government," said Dong.

Not far away

Toyota's vision of future mobility is not as far away as many would have imagined.

"Concerning the e-Palette, we are conducting concrete and specific development so that we can offer them at athlete villages when Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, and they are expected to hit the market in at least a limited capacity in the early 2020s," said Kobayashi.

He said Toyota, as the official sponsor of the Olympics and the Paralympics in the "mobility category", is also planning to help serve participants at the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2022 with fuel cell vehicles and smart mobility.

Fuel cell vehicles have become a reality for some time. The Mirai, its first mass-produced fuel cell passenger car, has seen its total sales exceed 7,000 units worldwide.

Yet fuel cell vehicles remain in the early stages of their development, and to promote them, Toyota is offering around 5,700 patents free of charge and helping to build hydrogen stations, said Dong.

He said the carmaker is also enriching its passenger and commercial vehicle lineup with such models, hoping their annual sales can reach 30,000 units in the 2020s.

In China, Toyota started a three-year verification test of the Mirai passenger car in October 2017, and it has built hydrogen stations in Changshu, Jiangsu province.

The carmaker said it will expand its experiment to cover commercial vehicles including buses as part of its commitment to promoting the technology in the country.

In terms of autonomous driving, the carmaker introduced its advanced driver assistance system, Toyota Safety Sense, into models sold in China in 2016.

According to the carmaker, the automated driving active safety package was developed focused on collision avoidance, lane deviation prevention and night visibility, to help prevent traffic accidents.

Future generations of this advanced safety system will expand to include a broader range of automated safety systems and technology as research and development progresses.

Kobayashi said Toyota is stepping up its efforts to make sure that all of its models available in the country feature the system.

It will also conduct more verification tests with Chinese research institutions and universities to better suit customers' needs in the country.

lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/08/2018 page9)