What's the news?
Toyota will bring three concept cars (well, two of them are more like motorised mobility solutions, than cars as such...) to the Tokyo motor show, and they're designed to work together, or separately, to get you safely, silently, and environmentally-friendly-y around town.
The Concept-i is one we've already seen. Toyota showed off the compact electric hatchback at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, back in January. Quite apart from being an Auris-sized electric car with a 300km one-charge range, it's also bristling with sensors, not just for monitoring the environment outside the car, but for monitoring you too.
The Concept-i can keep an eye on you, watching your moods and your emotional responses, as well as things such as drowsiness, and can switch instantly to autonomous driving mode if it detects you nodding off, or that the driving situation has become too stressful for you. Its computer system, dubbed AI Agent by Toyota (not sinister, not sinister at all...) can also observe your emotions and come up with interesting minor diversions for you if you're bored with your driving route.
Toyota says it should be road-testing some of the Concept-i's tech by 2020.
The Japanese company has now also added Concept-i RIDE and Concept-i WALK to the family. RIDE is a small electric pod, with gullwing doors and a seat that slides in and out. It's designed to be controlled by a joystick, to make it compatible with those who have disabilities, while the same AI Agent computer helps the occupant drive safely. It has a range of up to 150km.
Meanwhile, the WALK is Toyota's Segway - a single-person electric upright scooter, with a range of around 20km. Here the AI Agent looks around the area for any dangers, and help the user to keep out of harm's way.