Japanese car maker Toyota unveiled its "Woven Planet" research unit at a virtual media event on Friday, promising to introduce "safer mobility" in the world as competition intensifies to develop self-driving cars.
In an online presentation dubbed The Genesis, Wovin Plant executives provided a few hints about specific features in the product line, but said a new assistive driving system would be installed in the company's passenger cars. By the end of this year.
The company also said it would be ready to reveal a fully autonomous driving prototype "in the near future", without going into details.
With traditional car makers facing competition from technology companies such as Apple, Amazon and Sony, Toyota is looking to combine a Woven Planet approach with Silicon Valley while developing its own Toyota Production System for next-generation manufacturing. Of cars.
Toyota says it will be ready to reveal a fully autonomous prototype in the near future (Reuters)
Autonomous cars may still be years away, but rival General Motors this month scored a hit at the hypothetical Consumer Electronics Show (CES), with its all-electric Cadillac concept, while the Chinese search engine operator. Baidu unveiled a partnership with the local auto company Geely.
Led by former google robotics scientist James Kovner, Woven Planet also says it has the advantage of scale in data collection - the key to AI-assisted software development - with tens of millions of Toyota cars driving on roads around the world.
Toyota regained the crown as the world's best-selling car maker in 2020, pushing Volkswagen out of that position.
"We are just starting to use technology and innovation to change the world," said Kovner, in a pre-recorded presentation, by leading executives, including the family's founding scion Daisuke Toyota.
Toyota revealed plans last year to build a prototype of a "future city" called "Woven City" at the base of Mount Fuji powered by hydrogen fuel cells, and will be a laboratory for self-driving cars.