
Toyota announces sustainable vehicle ecosystem [video] - ajflores1604
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrLfxz7daSU
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spectramax
First two aspects are good. Battery sharing can really scale well and decrease
production costs by standardization. And, a shared vehicle can reduce traffic
amongst many other benefits.

"Information Sharing" \- No thanks. I don't want a shared vehicle to be able
to watch me go into my house. The more I see the future of increased
connectivity, the more I detest it. I want technology to solve hard problems
but without butchering people's right to privacy and undeserved pervasive
intrusion in people's lives. I don't want a single IOT device in my house. No
IOT locks, bulbs, fridges, coffee makers, speakers and... cars. I am almost
angry thinking about the future.

The last point almost reads like satire in the video. Also, videos like this
are 100% useless. It is fluff but no substance. Give us detailed plans,
schedule, specifics on _how_ you'll achieve all this, technology whitepapers.
This video is utterly and completely useless.

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sjwright
That seemed more like a high school project than the output of the world's
largest auto maker. I don't understand what they're trying to tell me, other
than perhaps "Toyota hired a futurist and an animator and told them to make a
YouTube video."

Also, can anyone explain the "The Future Is Slow" tagline at the end? It was
jarring and made me wonder if the whole thing is supposed to be parody.

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Animats
Is there anything other than this oversimplified Youtube cartoon describing
this? Is this a battery swap system, or what?

Battery swapping seems to be an obsolete technology. Battery capacities are
now big enough, and charging is fast enough, that it's not worth the hassle.

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taneq
It'd be just perfect for Toyota, then, once they give up on Hydrogen, The Fuel
Of The Future.

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jarym
I was going to say this - Toyota gave up on batteries after building the
Prius.

Their hydrogen fuel cell is clearly not the way the industry is going. So are
they going back to batteries, the tech they said would never be commercially
viable?

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melkiaur
Wait. I thought their hydrogen cars were hybrid cars, just like the prius. Why
do you say they gave up on batteries ?

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glogla
Kinda.

H2EV don't "burn" the hydrogen, because fuel cells are much better than
engines that burn stuff in cylinders. So you end up with electormotor and fuel
cell.

And since you can recuperate into fuel cell and fuel cells aren't very good at
providing big short peaks of power, it makes sense to add a battery to smooth
things out and to store energy when braking.

But the battery doesn't need high-capacity, because it's just a temporary
store of energy. It's a very different battery technology than what you find
in a Tesla or Kia e-Niro or whatever.

In the end, Toyota H2EV (Mirai) is basically 1) electromotor from Lexus hybrid
2) battery from Prius 3) Fuel cell.

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acchow
"They can also learn their owners' habits and anticipate peoples' needs -
unlocking doors as they approach, reminding them of errands and appointments,
and using AI to suggest new destinations and activities to enjoy."

What does that have anything to do with a vision based on battery sharing?

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tomglynch
Standardisation is good - if it's adopted by others. Hopefully this one is as
I see a need for it.

Though, I can also see this happening: "None of the old standards are good
enough, let's create a new standard", and now there are N+1 standards.

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whitezombie
This is unmitigated bullshit. A huge PR stunt.

Sharing batteries doesn’t work. That’s why Tesla dropped it even though the
cars are designed to have batteries swapped in minutes. The only way for
battery swaps to work is if truly nobody owns their own car. Which brings me
to the next point.

Nobody wants to share their fucking car in America. Your car is your best
friend in 90 percent of the country. Nobody wants dirty strangers fucking up
their cars. Nobody wants the bed bugs, scabies, dandruff flakes and all the
rest. Not to mention crumbs and garbage. It’s bullshit. There will never be
widespread car sharing. People have been stroking themselves to this idea for
a Fucking decade.

And when they started showing images of the car CATCHING INTRUDERS and opening
your door for you, my bullshit alarm rang so loud it fucking exploded. We
already depend on a pile of broken bullshit taped together with scotch tape.
Taking the disaster that is the IOT and using it to open your door WITH YOUR
CAR is a stupid and bad idea and everyone knows it except the idiots at Toyota
PR.

Toyota has been making the wrong moves for decades. They INSISTED on making
the murai even when it was clear that hydrogen wasn’t going to cut it. The EV
revolution is here and all Toyota has is their pathetic failed hydrogen
vehicle and the rav4 that they have cancelled and hamstrung multiple times.
Meanwhile all the other big players have been busy getting pure EVs on the
lot.

This is solar roadways levels of bullshit!

~~~
clouddrover
> _Toyota has been making the wrong moves for decades._

Have they? Then why are they among the top three car companies in the world
and why is Toyota the top selling car brand? The Toyota Corolla was the second
best selling car model in the world in 2018:

[https://www.jato.com/global-car-market-remains-stable-
during...](https://www.jato.com/global-car-market-remains-stable-
during-2018-as-continuous-demand-for-suvs-offsets-decline-in-sales-of-compact-
cars-and-mpvs/)

I don't think these things would be true if Toyota had really been "making the
wrong moves for decades".

I think a much more likely scenario is that Toyota knows more about the car
business than you do.

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mikorym
Yes, Toyota is one of the best performing car companies in the world. I don't
know what the parent comment is referring to either.

By the way, my only criticism against Toyota would be that their cars don't
always seem to keep up with the style and aesthetics trends. However, their
newer Yaris for example reminds me of a samurai helmet, which to me looks
good. On that front I think there is room for improvement to challenge how we
think a toyota should "look".

Apart from that, I think they are performing very well.

EDIT: The same holds for when they release EVs. The Prius is an unattractive
car, but it did sell well despite (or because of) that.

~~~
namdnay
My only criticisms of Toyotas/Lexii (thanks Alan Partridge) are that they're 5
years late on Carplay, and have stuck with the efficient but unpleasant
geartrains for too long on their hybrids.

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agumonkey
Any other brand is trying to create a platform like this ? Beside Tesla, obv.

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hybridtupel
Looks more like an ad to me.

