NTT and Toyota Targeting Elimination of Road Accidents through Mobility AI and Communication Technologies
In a groundbreaking move, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and NTT have joined forces to build a Mobility AI Platform. The ambitious project, set to commence in 2025, aims to revolutionise the automotive industry and create a future society where roads are safer and more efficient.
The Mobility AI Platform will boast a three-pronged approach, encompassing a distributed computing platform, an intelligent communication infrastructure, and an AI infrastructure. The distributed computing platform will aggregate and process vast amounts of data collected from cars and other sources, utilising local power sources in data centers located in areas with abundant renewable energy. The intelligent communication infrastructure will link people, mobility, and infrastructure to provide seamless connectivity suited to various traffic environments and conditions in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The AI infrastructure will learn and reason based on data obtained from people, mobility, and infrastructure, underpinned by the distributed computing and intelligent communication infrastructure.
Toyota believes that the driving force of this effort will be software-defined vehicles (SDVs), which the company plans to develop through revising its software platform Arene and electronics platform. This overhaul will enable the extraction and collection of necessary data through smart and appropriate means of communication, as well as the timely updating of software. AI will continuously learn from large amounts of on-road data and make swift software improvements in Toyota's SDV development.
The goal of this collaboration is to provide mobility for all through the development of safe and secure SDVs. NTT President Akira Shimada explained that integrating this kind of AI will allow enriching society with various mobility services, including traffic accident prevention, more advanced automated driving, and AI agents attuned to people's needs.
In 2020, NTT and Toyota broadened their focus from individual vehicles to society as a whole, entering a business and capital alliance to lay the groundwork for smart cities. The two companies began working together in 2017 to develop data processing platforms and technologies necessary for connected cars.
Toyota intends to create diverse value in mobility by expanding the value of cars and integrating them into social systems. The companies aim to attract more partners who endorse their efforts, expanding the reach of these initiatives and harnessing the human potential of both companies and their partners to fulfil President Sato's vision of "changing the future of cars" in the hope of creating a better world and a prosperous society.
While the specifics of the Mobility AI Platform are yet to be fully disclosed, it is anticipated that the platform will involve integrating AI technologies with mobility solutions to enhance safety and efficiency on roads, potentially contributing to reducing traffic accidents by improving driver assistance systems, enhancing vehicle connectivity, and optimising traffic flow. However, without official announcements from the companies, these details remain speculative.
In separate developments, NTT has been recognised for innovative projects like Project Humanity, which focuses on enabling individuals with limited mobility to interact with digital avatars, and Toyota is involved in various AI and mobility research initiatives. These projects, however, do not directly address the joint Mobility AI Platform for accident reduction.
For a precise understanding of how NTT and Toyota plan to achieve a "society with zero traffic accidents," additional information or official announcements from the companies would be necessary.
- The Mobility AI Platform, a collaboration between Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and NTT, will integrate artificial-intelligence (AI) with mobility solutions, aiming to improve driver assistance systems and potentially reduce traffic accidents.
- Toyota's goal in this joint effort is to attract partners who endorse their vision of creating diverse value in mobility, by expanding the value of cars and integrating them into social systems, with the ultimate aim of contributing to a society with zero traffic accidents.
- Toyota and NTT are working in the areas of data-and-cloud-computing, technology, and finance, with a focus on developing AI infrastructure, intelligent communication infrastructure, and a distributed computing platform, to revolutionize the automotive industry and transportation in general, with the aspiration of creating a future society where roads are safer and more efficient.
