Toyota unveiled their ‘vision of the futue’ concept today in Detroit, and in cased you missed the initial teaser released back in December, we are talking about the NS4 Advanced Plug-in Hybrid, a vehicle that hints at what future mobility might mean in terms of connectivity and safety.
Jim Lentz, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motor Sales US said, "In this digital age, cars are becoming another spoke in the wheel of our electronic connectivity. NS4 demonstrates Toyota’s take on the human connection to the car with technology that considers both emotional and rational relationships, person-to-car and car-to-society."
The advanced powertrain inside the NS4 targets a hybrid plug-in system with smaller and lighter components that will enable higher fuel economy, better acceleration, longer driving distances on just electricity and a shorter charge time.
Through the NS4 Concept, Toyota is also pointing at a new styling direction, with some of the distinctive elements on this vehicle including a trapezoid grille featuring a floating lower spoiler, unique daytime running lights, rear lamps that wrap around the sides of the car and powered swan-wing doors.
The connectivity aspect mentioned above was addressed by the human-machine interface (HMI) centered around a multi-touch screen that helps minimize distractions and maximize driver awareness as well as the multimedia and vehicle-controls which are capable of ‘learning’ the driver’s preferences in order to anticipate his response in specific environments and situations.
As far as safety, the NS4 showcases an evolution in Toyota’s systems, and we are referring to the next generation pre-collision system (PCS), adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlights and blind spot monitor
(BSM) as well as lane departure and pedestrian collision avoidance technologies designed to
predict collisions under certain circumstances and help avoid them.
The NS4 systems uses millimeter-wave radar and stereo cameras mounted on the front of the vehicle to detect and react to lane departure, pedestrians, and other vehicles.
The Toyota NS4 Advanced Plug in Hybrid is also a platform on which the Japanese are showcasing four new glass technologies which help the car become more aerodynamic, offer increased visibility, fuel economy and improve the electric driving range.
These glass technologies include rain-resistant ‘hydrophobic’ coating which causes rain drops to form into semispherical shapes for improved visibility, the ‘Anti-fog’ coating made from a high performance resin material, the high ultraviolet (UV) absorbing inner-layer which removes 99 percent of harmful EVA and UVB rays and the anti-solar film with radio-wave transparency reduces the internal vehicle temperature and improves electronic device functionality.
