Photo: Toyota
At last year's CES in Las Vegas, the leading Japanese manufacturer introduced the Concept-i, an autonomous electric vehicle that used its built-in AI for more than simply navigating the car on its own.
It was sort of a personal assistant - or a friend, if you want (and lack real ones). However, if you like your privacy, you're not going to be too crazy about the Concept-i. Its computer will know more about you than your mother by monitoring your in-car conversations, your social media activity or your GPS localization. It will cross-reference this with the day's news as well as your tone of voice and facial expressions to decide your mood and take the appropriate action.
Toyota also said the vehicle would able to take over from the driver on its own will. The AI decides when the human behind the wheel might be overwhelmed by outside stimuli or his inner problems and relieves them of the added burden of having to drive.
Luckily, all these things are nothing but theoretical applications of a technology that doesn't yet exist in a car that never will. But while Toyota is going crazy with the onboard technology, the powertrain sounds quite feasible. The Concept-i has a maximum range of about 300 km (186 miles), which is something the carmaker could probably offer in a year or two.
Ahead of the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota revealed two more concept vehicles that come to complete the urban mobility solutions. They're called the Concept-i RIDE and Concept-i WALK, and they both have very deceiving names.
That's because you don't ride the RIDE and the WALK does not require walking. The former is a two-seater urban car much in the vein of the smart fortwo, only this one has gullwing doors and replaces the steering wheel and pedals with a joystick. The seats slide around enabling the driver to sit dead-center when there's no one else in the car. It has a maximum range of 100 to 150 km (62 to 93 miles).
Finally, we have the Concept-i WALK, a "last mile" type of transportation that is supposed to fit in the back of the RIDE vehicle as well. It can "walk" for 10 to 20 kilometers (6 to 12 miles) and has a variable wheelbase, even though Toyota doesn't clarify why that would be important. The WALK is probably developed for the time when city centers will be completely closed for vehicles, enabling people to park their Concept-i RIDEs just outside downtown and glide to work effortlessly.
We didn't go into more detail, but the RIDE and WALK also offer more or less the same AI interaction as the Concept-I as part of Toyota's future where "cars and humans will work together as partners." Great, now I can't shake the idea of these vehicles greeting their drivers with "Howdy, partner!"
Toyota also said the vehicle would able to take over from the driver on its own will. The AI decides when the human behind the wheel might be overwhelmed by outside stimuli or his inner problems and relieves them of the added burden of having to drive.
Luckily, all these things are nothing but theoretical applications of a technology that doesn't yet exist in a car that never will. But while Toyota is going crazy with the onboard technology, the powertrain sounds quite feasible. The Concept-i has a maximum range of about 300 km (186 miles), which is something the carmaker could probably offer in a year or two.
Ahead of the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota revealed two more concept vehicles that come to complete the urban mobility solutions. They're called the Concept-i RIDE and Concept-i WALK, and they both have very deceiving names.
That's because you don't ride the RIDE and the WALK does not require walking. The former is a two-seater urban car much in the vein of the smart fortwo, only this one has gullwing doors and replaces the steering wheel and pedals with a joystick. The seats slide around enabling the driver to sit dead-center when there's no one else in the car. It has a maximum range of 100 to 150 km (62 to 93 miles).
Finally, we have the Concept-i WALK, a "last mile" type of transportation that is supposed to fit in the back of the RIDE vehicle as well. It can "walk" for 10 to 20 kilometers (6 to 12 miles) and has a variable wheelbase, even though Toyota doesn't clarify why that would be important. The WALK is probably developed for the time when city centers will be completely closed for vehicles, enabling people to park their Concept-i RIDEs just outside downtown and glide to work effortlessly.
We didn't go into more detail, but the RIDE and WALK also offer more or less the same AI interaction as the Concept-I as part of Toyota's future where "cars and humans will work together as partners." Great, now I can't shake the idea of these vehicles greeting their drivers with "Howdy, partner!"
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