Toyota Launches Connected Car Venture with Microsoft

Toyota has launched a new partnership with software giant Microsoft meant to expand the use of technology both for the development and production of new vehicles, as well as to expand the range of features and services that can be delivered to customers while driving.

Dubbed Toyota Connected, the venture is the latest sign of the growing links between the automotive and consumer electronics worlds. Today’s cars are already loaded with advanced electronic safety and infotainment systems. And technology is expected to play an even greater role as automakers push towards the goal of delivering the first fully autonomous vehicles within the next decade.

The new venture will effectively oversee all of Toyota’s high-tech operations worldwide, everything from data analytics used in product development to the robots used at its assembly plants.

From a public perspective, Toyota buyers will experience Toyota Connected through the wide range of infotainment services the Japanese maker hopes to offer. The goal is to go well beyond what’s in the car today, and make for a much more personalized experience, Hicks explained.

The service will also will serve as the maker’s portal into the Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure – or V2V and V2I — networks that the federal government hopes to establish in the coming years. These would, among other things, help track traffic, road and weather conditions to improve traffic flow and reduce crashes, among other things.

One of the challenges automakers face is finding a way to make it easy – and less distracting – to use all that technology. According to numerous studies, such as the annual J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, tech-based issues have become the single-biggest complaint among new vehicle buyers.

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