The Toyota e-Palette represents Toyota’s first fully automated next-generation battery electric vehicle, and is designed to be scalable and customizable for a variety of mobility services, as if creating colors by mixing paints on a palette.
The Toyota e-Palette concept
First announced by Akio Toyoda as a concept at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, Toyota’s e-Palette concept featured a flat, open-plan interior design and a low floor that could be configured in countless ways. The equipment could be installed according to the user’s needs, from a carpool design to a mobile hotel room, an office or a workshop. Toyota also aimed to collaborate with popular hospitality and retail outlets, thereby transforming the e-Palette into a mobile store or catering service.
The vehicle’s design reflected this commitment to flexibility and partnership, with an open control interface and a suite of software tools that would allow partner companies to install their own automated driving system if they so desired.
Source: Toyota UK Blog
The Toyota e-Palette made its official debut at the 2019 Tokyo Auto Show, as a version specifically designed to serve as an automated bus service for athletes and officials at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (now postponed until July 2021).
The Tokyo 2020 e-Palette has large doors and electric ramps so that passengers can board easily and quickly. The vehicle is controlled by an automated driving system and moves at speeds of up to approximately 12 mph. Although the operation is at SAE level 4 (high automation), a security operator would be on board each vehicle to monitor performance and take control if necessary.
Toyota planned to use the knowledge gained from the e-Palette operation in Tokyo 2020 to further develop the vehicle for future mobility-as-a-service applications.
The e-Palette: Where does it go from here?
Toyota recognizes how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way people lead their lives, creating more diverse mobility needs. It is now necessary to create greater distances between passengers, and people increasingly require that goods and services be brought to them, rather than traveling to access them. Furthermore, the increasing proportion of older people creates more mobility problems and will accelerate the demand for new mobility services.
As reported on its official blog, Toyota believes that the autonomous mobility service that e-Palette is a part of can help address these issues. The operation of the e-Palette vehicles in Woven City will provide a real-world learning environment that will help the platform evolve and serve customers. Toyota aims to work with partners to market e-Palette in different markets and regions until the early 2020s.
