Some people spend a lot of time with their vehicles. Salespeople who hit the roads daily, or commuters spending hours on end getting to work: there are instances when there are those people who spend more time in the cars than their family, other co-workers, or best friends. Toyota understands that a car can be more than just a pile of metal compiled together that takes you from ‘point A’ to ‘point B’. Toyota wants your car to mean so much more; be like a member of the family, like a really good friend.
As such, on Wednesday, January 4th at the CES industry trade show (once known as the Consumer Electronics Show), Toyota launched a car for the future, with built-in artificial intelligence, simply known as ‘Concept-i’.
Autonews advised that the Senior VP of Automotive Operations for Toyota, Bob Carter chimed into the unveil and stated that the company needed to look far over the simple driver-car boundary to look more towards a driver-car relationship.
That’s interesting … a relationship with your car? Looks like Toyota continues to head into the future of driving.
Within Concept-i, Toyota has built ‘Yui’ within, the company’s artificial intelligence system.
Yui’s goal is to observe the driver’s mood and behavior to help when it comes to the car’s actions. Now, here’s where the BFF element comes into play: Yui will also interact with you, while you are in your car.
At the trade show, there was a demonstration with Yui on a screen, in a cartoon to help focus on that car-driver relationship that Concept-i is sure to bring.
Still, car enthusiasts, this is good-bad news type of auto story. Good news is, Toyota has developed the idea around Yui and Concept-i; so, for those looking for a new friend in their car, the possibility is there. The bad news? The auto company has yet to report if they plan to place the car into production. Still, Toyota is set to test some of the car’s technologies on the roads in Japan, within the coming years.
So … there is still some hope to find your new best friend, in the form of your vehicle … perhaps in the near future.
