In a 1.5 hour-long presentation, Keiji Yamamoto, Chief Product Integration Officer at Toyota, talked about the automaker’s approach to software development for future models of Toyota and Lexus.
The big news is that Toyota will launch the new Arene Operating System within the next five years while starting from the new-generation Lexus NX this fall, over-the-air updates will be offered more widely following the example of rival automakers Tesla and Volkswagen.
Around 10 million Lexus and Toyota vehicles manufactured to date are connected cars. In fact, the Lexus LS500h flagship and the Toyota Mirai FCEV sedan are already capable of receiving over-the-air updates, but the upcoming Lexus NX and other future models will expand this capability even further.
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According to the presentation, a modern car is equipped with as many as 50 ECUs and up to 1,000 semiconductors! The number of lines of code per vehicle is rapidly increasing over the last decade and will continue to do so even faster. What started from less than 500 lines of code in the early 00’s, will reach close to 8,000 lines of code by 2025 according to Toyota’s forecast.
For this reason, the automaker has around 3,000 people working on software development together with its technology branches Woven Planet and Toyota Connected. If you add the entire Toyota Group, the number of workers associated with software increases to more than 18,000.
New Operating System Called Arene Is Under Development
Keiji Yamamoto revealed that Toyota’s new operating system will be called “Arene” and is expected to hit the market within the next five years. The system is developed by Woven Planet, a Toyota subsidiary that focuses on AI and automated driving, and will be also offered to other companies. As reported by Automotive News, the company believes that Arene will be the equivalent of Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS for cars. Besides offering more functionality and improving efficiency, Arene will contribute to shorter development times, thus allowing for shorter product cycles.
New Lexus NX Will Get OTA Updates
The new-generation Lexus NX that debuted in June and is expected to reach the markets in the fall, will be capable of over-the-air updates, eliminating the time gap in the introduction of new technologies among different regions. The goal is to expand the OTA updates to a number of systems over the multimedia (infotainment) and safety (ADAS systems) functions, as Toyota believes that connectivity can contribute to carbon neutrality.
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A good example is the “geofencing” technology which uses information from the cloud and from navigation in order to predict the road ahead and make the best use of the electric energy that is stored in the battery of hybrid powertrains. For example, when the driver is heading towards the city center, the system will prioritize battery charging in order to allow for more efficient use of zero-emission driving.
The first step of geofencing technology will be previewed with the Lexus NX’s “Predictive Efficient Drive” feature. This will analyze the driver’s behavior, real-time traffic, and the road ahead, in order to optimize battery charging and discharging cycles.
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Another cool feature will be the visualization of the car’s health status, just like an electronic medical record. According to Toyota, this will allow for better maintenance, thus increasing vehicle longevity and battery recyclability/reusability.
If you want to learn more about Toyota’s future, you can download the complete presentation pdf here or watch Keiji Yamamoto explain everything in the official video below.