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Automotive Technology
AUTOS: Toyota’s ‘Smart Phone’ Concept
Socially enabled vehicle has a surface that's all video screen with smart grid connectivity and a holographic driver's aid.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted November 29, 2011   Tokyo (JAP)
The entire outer surface of the Toyota Fun Vii concept car is a video screen. (Photo: Toyota)
“A smart phone on wheels” is how Toyota president Akio Toyoda described the automaker’s latest concept car unveiled today as a preview to the Tokyo Motor Show opening this week.

Combining mobility with the interconnected social aspects of today’s advanced cell phones, the Fun-Vii is a slick black wedge that comes alive with an outer surface that’s completely video display screen. On it, drivers can run anything from custom colors and advertising to videos and photos of friends and family downloaded from cell phones.

But that’s just on the outside. Inside, the driver and two passengers can link up with a smart grid that helps the driver navigate through traffic as well as staying connected with friends. A 3D hologram helps out with driving directions and destinations.

No, there are no plans for production – Toyota named the model year as 20XX – although Fun-Vii forecasts an interconnected future for automobiles.

With recent studies showing that teens and young adults are fundamentally more interested in smart phones than automobiles, there’s most likely a need for something on wheels that’s so socially enabling.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at
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