Toyota unveiled a new take on the « mobility » concept at CES on Monday.
Toyota unveiled a new take on the « mobility » concept at CES on Monday.
Company president Akio Toyoda revealed the « e-Palette, » an electric, self-driving vehicle that when launched will apparently be a combination deli, pizza delivery, retail shop, and ride-hailing service.
« It is an open, flexible platform easily adapted to suit a range of uses, including ride sharing, delivery and retail, » Toyoda said. « Today you have to travel to the store. In the future, the store will travel to you, » he said.
The company will debut a model e-Palette at the 2020 Olympics, where it is a sponsor.
Toyota has already signed on partners for the mobile store, including Amazon, DiDi, Pizza Hut and Uber — thus suggesting the e-Palette will deliver you pizza, packages, or drive you to a destination.
« [E-Palatte is] a platform that will be the backbone for mobility-as-a-service, for autonomy, for car-sharing, for any number of services that we want to make possible, » he said.
Toyoda said the e-Palatte is at least partially a response to increasing competitive pressure from Silicon Valley in the self-driving car race.
« Our competitors no longer just make cars. Companies like Google, Apple and even Facebook are what I think about at night, because, after all, we didn’t start off making cars either, » Toyoda said at CES.
« Technology is changing quickly in our industry and the race is on, » he added.
