NTT and Toyota get join forces to create broad connected car platform

Japanese telco giant NTT is getting together with the world’s largest car company Toyota to develop a broad range of technologies designed to enable the connected car era.

The collaboration doesn’t lack ambition as it’s looking to cover pretty much everything the utopian car might need. Having said that NTT seems to be doing most of the heavy lifting regarding technology, with Toyota mainly researching the underlying platform and, presumably, providing the cars to try all this cleverness out on.

The main areas of collaboration are largely based around the collection and processing of ‘huge amounts’ of car-related data. This involves looking into IoT networks and data centres, the roles of 5G and edge computing, the underlying platform for processing all this lovely data and in-car technologies including a voice UI and artificial intelligence to further empower the driver.

“Toyota and the NTT Group, sharing their technologies, knowledge and expertise, and making use of Big Data obtained from automotive vehicles, will carry out joint research and development of technologies necessary for solving various issues facing society, including traffic accidents and congestion, and for providing customers with new mobility services, aimed at realizing a sustainable Smart Mobility Society in the future from a global perspective,” said the full-stop light announcement.

The connected car sector seems to be going through the ‘collaboration of the day’ phase of its development, which usually means enterprise has decided it’s definitely going to happen and it’s definitely going to be big, so it’s time to start jostling for position. There’s almost no limit to the amount of data a car could generate while driving around but, as ever, the tricky bit will be identifying profitable uses for it.