Toyota Motor Europe (TME) together with its consultancy arm of Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) presented a new Toyota’s ‘Window to the World’ vehicle concept in a simulation video.
The near-future concept re-defines the relationship between passengers in a vehicle and the world around it by transforming the vehicle’s windows into an interactive interface, providing a passenger an opportunity to play, explore and learn while on the road.
A window begins to ‘tell’ passengers all about landmarks and other objects as they go past. The window can also be used as a canvas for drawings, which then interacts with the passing environment.
Engineers and designers from TME’s Kansei1 Design Division joined forces with CIID to develop this concept not only with strong visual aesthetics, but addressing specific needs of customers.
TME Kansei Division and CIID developed five concepts for Toyota’s ‘Window to the World’:
- Drawing in Motion—using the car window as a canvas, passengers can draw with their fingers, and see the images integrating with the outside world as the car moves along.
- Zooming into captured moments in time—passengers zoom-in with their fingers on outside objects to see it in a close perspective.
- Translating the world in a local language—passengers can select elements outside the window and receive a real-time translation in a local language.
- Augmented Distances—choose landmarks in the distance and the window will show the relative distance to the car on its surface.
- Virtual Constellations – the car’s panoramic roof displays virtual constellations and information about them with the actual sky as a background.
Two working prototypes of Toyota’s ‘Window to the World’ concept were among the displays at the ‘Our Future Mobility Now’ exhibition, organized by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) in June at the Autoworld Museum in Brussels, Belgium.
In June Toyota celebrated its Prius 10th anniversary with a Prius-inspired bike creation.