Toyota e-Palette Concept – [Ai] World Premiere at CES 2018

e-Palette Alliance will leverage Toyota’s Global Mobility Services Platform to develop advanced vehicle and related mobility services for business applications

e-Palette Concept Vehicle will be fully autonomous, battery-electric vehicle with open control interface to allow partner companies to install their own automated driving system

Alliance launch partners include Amazon, DiDi, Mazda, Pizza Hut and Uber


The e-Palette Alliance: A New Ecosystem for Mobility-Powered Business

As an emerging provider of mobility hardware and services to business, Toyota is focused on creating new and attractive features for partners that help them to expand their value chain and improve customers’ lives.

The e-Palette Alliance will leverage the power of Toyota’s MSPF to build a new ecosystem for mobility-powered businesses. Announced in 2016, the MSPF is Toyota’s framework for a range of connected vehicle applications, providing a full suite of services needed to support MaaS ranging from vehicle leasing and insurance to fleet management and big data.

e-Palette Alliance service provider partners, including Amazon, DiDi, Pizza Hut, and Uber will explore various applications of the e-Palette Concept and the MSPF to support their existing business needs. DiDi, Mazda and Uber will also join as technology partners.

Toyota continues to discuss the creation of new mobility services with other service providers and technology development companies.

e-Palette Concept Vehicle: An Automated, Electric Vehicle Purpose-Built for MaaS

With the e-Palette Concept, Toyota has built a new approach to Autono-MaaS mobility that will empower Alliance partners to support their customers’ lifestyles with increased convenience, productivity and efficiency.

With its open interior design layout, the vehicle can be outfitted with purpose-built interiors in accordance with the user’s needs, whether it be parcel delivery, ride sharing, or on-the-road e-commerce. Its flexible framework is also designed for usage optimization, allowing the e-Pallet Concept to be shared to support various business needs and transition seamlessly from one application to another. Toyota envisions that the e-Palette Concept will be made available in three sizes, allowing not just need-specific applications, but also right-sized and right-place mobile solutions.

Going forward, e-Palette Alliance partners will be able to leverage the e-Palette Concept in coordination with the full range of MSPF services, or to incorporate the vehicle into their own technology development program. The e-Palette Concept’s design reflects this commitment to flexibility and partnership, with an open control interface and a set of software tools to allow partner companies to mount their own automated driving system as desired.

Toyota plans to conduct feasibility testing of the e-Palette Concept in various regions, including the United States, in the early 2020s. It also hopes to contribute to the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 by providing mobility solutions like the e-Palette and other innovative mobility offerings.

Main Features

Extensive interior space with a low floor/cube shape design:

There are three sizes of e-Palette Concept, with different lengths* (depending on the purpose-built specification). Thanks to a flat and extensive barrier free interior space layout designed with a low floor, equipment can be installed in accordance with the user’s needs, such as ride sharing specifications, hotel room specifications and retail shopping specifications.
*Lengths vary from 4m to 7m approximately. Dimension of CES 2018 Design model is L 4,800mm, W 2,000mm, H 2,250mm.

Next-Generation vehicle control interface:

Vehicle control technology is being used as an interface for technology providers. Technology providers can receive open Application Programming Interface (API) such as vehicle state and vehicle control, necessary for development of automated driving systems (automated driving control software and cameras/sensors, etc.). The e-Palette Concept also leverages the power of the MSPF to enable over-the-air updates of the automated driving systems.

MSPF Enabled:

Vehicle information is gathered from the Data Communication Module (DCM) fitted to the e-Palette Concept and accumulated in the Toyota Big Data Center (TBDC) through a global communication platform. The e-Palette Concept will capitalize on this vehicle information to support a variety of finance options, as well as high-level maintenance in cooperation with Toyota dealers. The API required by service providers, like vehicle state and dynamic management, can be viewed on the MSPF.