Two significant Japanese majors, Toyota and NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), have decided to band together to further their research and development efforts in the connected car space. This partnership revolves around sharing the technologies, knowledge, and expertise to jointly analyze the society’s transportation issues and figure out a smart mobility solution for the same.
Under this strategic partnership, Toyota plans on combining its vehicle-related technologies with the information and communication technologies (ICT) of NTT Group. This is expected to enable the joint R&D effort in the development, verification, and standardization of technology in the connected and autonomous mobility ecosystem.
This means that the automaker will share a treasure trove of big data collected from trial runs of its connected vehicles with NTT, one of the largest telecom giants by revenue, to solve issues being faced by the society. This can lead to the creation of many new solutions, which are affordable and sustainable, for preventing road accidents and traffic congestion. The NTT Group also has its work cut out to further accelerate the development of future connected car solutions. And each of its entities have been assigned the following tasks:
[mks_accordion] [mks_accordion_item title=”NTT DATA Corporation”] This NTT entity will utilize its advanced analytics capability and experiences to support the telecom infrastructure in Japan. And thus, it will collect and analyze the huge amount of data collected from the connected vehicle.[/mks_accordion_item] [mks_accordion_item title=”NTT Communications Corporation”] It will be leveraging its existing information and communication technologies to establish next-generation global ICT infrastructure optimized to IoT devices in connected cars.
[/mks_accordion_item] [mks_accordion_item title=”NTT DOCOMO, Inc.”] It will lead the R&D, as well as standardization efforts for the deployment of next-gen 5G mobile communications systems.
[/mks_accordion_item] [mks_accordion_item title=”NTT”] This entity will also conduct research on edge computing technology and promote standardization across international boundaries. It will also carry out research on driving advice and voice interaction technologies using its in-house ‘corevo’ AI system.
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Toyota, it seems, is now driving its connected mobility at the final gear and doesn’t plan on applying the brakes anytime soon. Today’s NTT partnership is one of the several deals that the automaker has cracked with other technology and automotive majors from across the globe. The automaker was just recently announced as the first partner for Microsoft’s new auto licensing program, which grants it access to Redmond’s most (or probably all) connected car patents.
Further, the Japanese automaker has also linked hands with Ford to form a SmartDeviceLink Consortium for smartphone application development for vehicles. The consortium will be a non-profit organization and would act as an open source software platform giving consumers a huge variety of choices. First few automakers to join the consortium include Mazda Motor Corporation, PSA Group, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI) and Suzuki Motor Corporation among others.
