Image via WikipediaToyota Motor Corp. is joining forces with cloud computing company, Salesforce.com Inc., giving both the companies the opportunity to design a social network service allowing the owners of the cars to become "friends" with their cars. This system will provide friendly tweet-like reminder notices and calls of maintenance checks. This deal is the second in the line of Toyota Motor Corp., as the world's biggest automaker collaborated with the world’s biggest software company, Microsoft Corp., as they got together last month to announce the strategy of bringing more and better Internet-connected services to new car models of Toyota worldwide."Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication," claimed the President of Toyota Corp., Akio Toyoda, while he was in the joint news conference hosted with the C.E.O. of Salesforce.com, Marc Benioff, in Tokyo on Monday. He added that "The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation." Both, intelligence of internet and telematics and the advancements of automobile, are expected to form a key combination in adding value to cars. Both companies join hands to develop an attractive marketing tool as consumers look beyond just their laptops and phones for connectivity. The telemetics service of Toyota is already functional which connecting its vehicle drivers with dealers.
This new private social network of Toyota, entitled "Toyota Friend," will allow the owners of Toyota to be able to "chat" with their Toyota vehicles just like they would be conversant with any friend on Twitter or Facebook. The vehicle will have its own "profile,” allowing it to be able to send messages to the driver's cell phone on every necessary moment like a reminder for recharging the depleted battery. While interestingly the owner will be able to have a complete two-way conversation with its car. This new service will be an extension of Toyota's network, which will be designed on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform giving the customers a worldwide access to Toyota's digital services such as GPS and multimedia.
Customers will also have extra features like enhancing their private "Toyota Friend" network to include family and friends via their public social network profiles like Twitter and Facebook. The service will be debuted first in Japan with Toyota's newest first battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars, which are scheduled to be lunched next year according to Toyota.
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