Toyota Geneva Motor Show: Toyota FV2 - A Glimpse Of The Future

The vehicle enhances the driving experience by connecting both physically and emotionally with the driver, the increasing strength of the bond making it more fun to drive the more it is used.

Rather than via a conventional steering wheel, the Toyota FV2 is operated by the driver shifting his or her body to intuitively move the vehicle forwards or backwards, and left and right.Moreover, by using intelligent transport system technology to connect with other vehicles in the area and the local traffic infrastructure, the FV2 provides a wide variety of safety information, including advanced warnings about other vehicles in blind spots at intersections, promoting safer driving.

Toyota envisions the FV2 and its owner developing an ever-deepening driver-vehicle relationship similar to the trust and understanding that a rider might develop with a horse.

By incorporating technology under development in the Toyota Heart Project, both the driver and the FV2 can grow together. The vehicle uses both voice and image recognition to determine the driver’s mood, accumulated driving history to suggest destinations, and driving technique information to assist the user in developing driving skills.

In addition to an Augmented Reality (AR) display in the windshield, the vehicle body colour and exterior display can be changed at will, creating a more intimate relationship between driver and vehicle.

The Toyota Heart Project

The Toyota Heart Project is a new communication research project developed under the theme ‘Inspiring the Heart, Inspiring You’.

Basing its research on a unique, ‘open innovation’ method, the project envisages a future in which, in addition to simply talking and listening, humans and artificial intelligence will be able to engage in emotional communication which includes the use of expressions and gestures, and the recollection of past events.

Toyota’s Kirobo and Mirata humanoid communication robots, which incorporate technologies for communication and artificial intelligence, are part of this research project.

Good to know

• The FV2’s Augmented Reality windshield display supplements computer-generated data with sensory information received from the user’s environment.

• The Toyota Heart Project’s ‘open innovation’ method is a research and development technique that transcends organisational frameworks to gather diverse knowledge and technology.