The pods are coming and Toyota is bringing them. They’ll haul people around, deliver things, and a cute little one will even bring a pizza to your door.
When, you ask? Someday, within a few years. It’s all very futuristic.
Toyota’s wildly futuristic e-Pallette Concept Vehicle was revealed at CES as part of “a new mobility service business alliance… designed to meet the demands of future multi-mode transportation and business applications.” As near as we can tell, that means it could deliver things and people.
The all-electric, eight-wheeled toaster-like transporter sits on a modular platform that can be built in three lengths from 13 to 23 feet. It is an upright, low-ground-clearance, multi-use vehicle designed for urban environments. Very urban. It looks like it couldn’t clear a decent-sized speed bump. But it’s a concept, not a production vehicle, so we’ll cut it some slack.
Akio Toyoda himself introduced the very upright, not-cross-wind-friendly e-Palette, which can be used for any number of portable business needs. It can be configured to carry people standing up as they would on a crowded airport shuttle or it can carry cargo to make deliveries. The idea is that it will bring business to the customer, Toyoda said.
“Imagine how great the e-Palette would be at Burning Man,” he said.
It’s not a standalone deal, though. It offers, “a suite of connected mobility solutions,” Toyota — the company — says. The e-Palette Concept Vehicle you see here is part of the e-Palette Alliance, which will “…create a broad-based ecosystem of hardware and software support designed to help a range of companies utilize advanced mobility technology to better serve customers.” Toyota says those customers include Amazon, DiDi, Pizza Hut, Mazda and Uber, all of which will “collaborate on vehicle planning, application concepts and vehicle verification activities.”
Yes, that description sounds like an MBA and a business thesaurus had a baby that started typing. Even Toyota has trouble explaining what its plans are here.
The idea was launched in 2016 when Toyota established a Mobility Service Platform (MSPF) “…to collaborate with various service providers, as well as telematics insurance.” Does that sound vague? Toyota clarified: “…the MSPF will have various functions to support mobility services, and leverage the Toyota Smart Center, the Toyota Big Data Center, and financial services.” So the exact applications are a little vague but nonetheless it’s a cool-looking toaster.
Rinspeed is showing a similar vehicle at CES, and just north of the convention center an autonomous shuttle is in regular public service, just four years after debuting at CES. Toyota and its partners will start using these e-Palettes in the early 2020s. The first time you see them might be at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. By that time the Pizza Hut pizza might be a little cold.