Your cell phone vibrates. Is that a text message, a phone call? No, it’s just a message from your Toyota Prius plug-in, reminding you it needs a charge.
That’s right, Toyota Motor Corporation is developing a social networking service exclusively for Toyota drivers called Toyota Friend. Toyota’s President, Akio Toyoda, hopes that Toyota Friend will offer a way to create a friendship between car and driver. Just as people use Facebook and Twitter to connect with friends, Toyota Friend is meant to link Toyota drivers to their cars, dealerships, and fellow Toyota owners. Indeed, users can message each other, browse for charging stations, find vehicle tips, and even post their findings to other popular social networking sites.
While Toyota Friend has not been launched yet, it is set to premiere in 2012 in Japan. Toyota is working on the project with both Microsoft and San Francisco-based Salesforce.com, making it likely that Toyota Friend will be introduced in the U.S. and worldwide later in the year.
More than just a networking service, Toyota Friend has the potential to take the guess work out of car maintenance. It has the capability to notify users when their car needs an inspection and will automatically make an appointment with a Toyota dealership. And it doesn’t matter where you are when your car is in need: Toyota Friend’s alerts can be viewed via cell phone, computer, and even the car’s interior display.
The next time you are driving in your Toyota Prius, talking to it about its low battery or asking if something is wrong with the engine, consider that in the future your car just might talk back.
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