With five world-premiere concept cars revealed today by Toyota at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, you might expect the smallest to have to fight hard for attention.
But that’s not the case with the Toyota FV2 future mobility concept car on display.
An embodiment of the term fun to drive, the unique driver experience and connected technology of the FV2 would look perfectly at home on the set of a futuristic Hollywood film.
The first thing you notice is the driving position. With no steering wheel to grab hold of, control and operation is carried out by the lean of the driver’s body, intuitively moving the FV2 forward and back, left and right.
Key to enjoying the unique driving experience of the FV2 is staying safe. Connection to intelligent transport system technology means that the driver is provided with a variety of local safety information. Transmitted from other vehicles and infrastructure, this aids the driver with dangers such as blind spots at junctions.
As well as this physical connectivity, FV2 has been designed to connect to the driver emotionally. By incorporating technology from the Toyota Heart Project, a research programme that enhances communication between humans and artificial intelligence, the FV2 has been designed to ‘grow’ with the driver.
Using voice and image recognition to determine the driver’s mood, the future concept will accumulate a driving history to suggest routes and even determine the level of assistance needed based on the driver’s skill.
Finally, to give your FV2 that personal touch, body colour and exterior display panels can be changed by the owner to match their mood, creating an intimate relationship between car and driver that may well be the future of car personalisation.
Read more about the new Toyota models at the Tokyo Motor Show here.
