{"id":37892,"date":"2011-04-06T15:47:38","date_gmt":"2011-04-06T19:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=37892"},"modified":"2011-04-06T15:48:23","modified_gmt":"2011-04-06T19:48:23","slug":"toyota-microsoft-launch-new-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2011\/04\/toyota-microsoft-launch-new-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota, Microsoft Launch New Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Toyota RAV4-EV will likely be one of the first models to benefit from the maker's new partnership with software giant Microsoft.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toyota and Microsoft have announced a new partnership, the automotive and software giants planning to develop new technology they believe can improve the efficiency of battery-powered automobiles.<\/p>\n

Squeezing the maximum mileage out of an electric vehicle \u2013 while minimizing the impact on performance and comfort could make the difference between a successful product and an also-ran, industry officials contend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new partnership between Microsoft and Toyota is an important step in developing greater future mobility and energy management for consumers around the world. Creating these more efficient, more environmentally advanced products will be our contribution to society,\u201d said Toyota President Akio Toyoda, during a news conference simultaneously held in Toyota City, Japan, and Redmond, Washinton.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo achieve this,” added Toyoda, “it is important to develop a new link between vehicles, people and smart center energy-management systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Subscribe Now - It's Free!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The partners revealed plans to invest 1 billion yen, or $11.7 million, to develop a new telematics system based on the Windows Azure mobile operating platform.\u00a0 They suggested that the technology could have numerous applications, ranging from improved navigation to in-car information services \u2013 as well as improving the energy management in a battery-based vehicle.<\/p>\n

The project should make its first appearance in the battery-electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid models Toyota plans to bring to market in 2012, while a more advanced cloud-based application \u201cthat will provide affordable and advanced telematics services to Toyota automotive customers around the world,\u201d will be launched by 2015, a joint statement said.<\/p>\n

Microsoft has been aiming to expand its presence in the automobile for a number of years, scoring perhaps its biggest success with the launch of the Ford Sync telematics system, several years ago.\u00a0 The Detroit maker\u2019s exclusive has now expired and the Washington-based software maker is pushing to use the basic platform for other makers \u2013 including Korea\u2019s Kia, which is about to launch its own variant of Sync.<\/p>\n

The Toyota deal, with its ability to impact the efficiency of a battery vehicle, could be the next critical step for Microsoft.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s announcement of our partnership with TMC is a great example of how we continue to invest in the automotive industry and of our commitment to power the services that are important to consumers,\u201d said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. \u201cIt further validates the power of the cloud, as the Windows Azure platform will provide the enterprise-grade, scalable platform that TMC needs to deliver telematics in its automobiles worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toyota and Microsoft have announced a new partnership aimed at developing an advanced telematics system that could help improve the efficiency of future battery cars and plug-ins, like the upcoming Toyota RAV4-EV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37892"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=37892"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=37892"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=37892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}