Microsoft and Toyota said Wednesday that the companies will co-develop Toyota’s next-generation telematics platform around Microsoft’s Azure platform.
The two companies said that they plan to deliver the platform to Toyota’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, most likely including the Prius, by 2012. “TMC’s goal is to establish a complete global cloud platform by 2015 that will provide affordable and advanced telematics services to Toyota automotive customers around the world,” Toyota said in a statement.
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As part of the deal, the two companies said that they would co-invest $12 million, or 1 billion yen, into Toyota Media Service Co., a Toyota subsidiary that provides digital information services to Toyota customers.
The collaboration by the two companies on a telematics platform came as no surprise; the two announced a press conference on Tuesday for 1 PM PT today. Microsoft also has designed a telematics platform for Ford, called Sync, which debuted its version 3.0 in 2009. However, the Sync technology was provided to Ford by Microsoft, and Ford owns the trademark, a spokeswoman said – leaving Microsoft the ability to design a similar platform for other carmakers.
“Today’s 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,” said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, in a statement. “It 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.”
It remains to be seen what Toyota will do with Entune, its own Sync-like car entertainment system, Entune, which it announced at CES. Toyota did not identify which vehicles would receive EnTune; Toyota launched Enform, a similar telematics platform, for Lexus in January 2009.
Toyota Entune, like Ford’s Sync Destinations app, lets a driver interface their cars with their smartphones. At launch later this year, Entune will include access to Microsoft Bing, iheartradio, Pandora, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable and other personal trackers for real-time stock and sports information, Toyota announced in January. Users can also send directions to their vehicle’s navigation system.
It also appears that Microsoft will leverage some of the work it performed in its Microsoft Hohm app to the new telematics platform as a means to manage the home charging of the Toyota electric vehicles. At the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference on Tuesday, Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist, said Microsoft is repurposing Hohm to work with Ford’s all-electric Focus to manage electric-vehicle charging at home, according to CNET. Microsoft launched Hohm in 2009 as a way to help homeowners manage their energy consumption and save money.
“This new partnership between Microsoft and Toyota is an important step in developing greater future mobility and energy management for consumers around the world,” Akio Toyoda, president of TMC, said in a statement. “Creating these more efficient, more environmentally advanced products will be our contribution to society. To achieve this, it is important to develop a new link between vehicles, people and smart center energy-management systems.”
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