Toyota, the second-biggest automaker in the world, announced an ambitious plan today to tackle mobility and delivery services in the age of autonomous cars. Imagine if, instead of using https://carsrelo.com/, your car would deliver itself? Amazing to think about, though we are far from that point for sure. Plus, the existing services are very good. Anyway, apparently it involves weird, see-through self-driving boxes roaming through cities, delivering people, packages, and pizza. The public shouldn’t be too surprised at this news, especially with the recent development of self-driving vehicles and the surge of companies like Torc Robotics, for example, wanting to be the first to have a safe efficient self-driving vehicle. However, it still appears that some of the public still aren’t on board with the idea of this technology. Many people will probably stick to driving their normal vehicles. With websites like Autozin selling second-hand Toyota vehicles, the majority of people will probably purchase a manually driven vehicle from there.
However, in certain industries, like delivery, this method might be beneficial. Toyota is calling them “e-Palettes” and describes them as “fully-automated, next-generation battery electric vehicle[s] designed to be scalable and customizable for a range of Mobility as a Service businesses.” Think of them as transparent cargo or shipping containers on wheels that grow and shrink in size depending on their specific task.
Toyota envisions these serving a variety of functions, from typical mobility services like ride-sharing and carpooling, to less-typical purposes like serving as a mobile office and retail space, medical clinics, hotel rooms, and more. Need a new pair of shoes? Summon the mobile shoe palette and try on different sizes as you travel from here to there. Hungry from some pizza? Hail the roaming pizza oven, complete with (prisoner?) chef. As far as concepts go, this one is pretty out there.
“Just think how good e-Palette would be at Burning man,” quipped Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Company’s bespectacled president, from the stage at CES in Las Vegas today. That about sums it up.
Visit the original article on The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/8/16863092/toyota-e-palette-self-driving-car-ev-ces-2018
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