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GREAT-Terry
So driving finally doesn't look like driving anymore. It is fun!
tb1
You can get an electric motorcycle that will go 100 miles and go 100MPH for just ...
Toyota's Insect EV: Car or gadget?
Junko Yoshida
10/2/2012 12:41 PM EDT
NEW YORK – First-time exhibitor Toyota came to Japan’s largest consumer electronics show, CEATEC, this week to show off its single-seater electric vehicle named “Smart Insect.”
The Insect features gull-wing doors and is trapped in a body similar to Toyota’s single-seater EV named COMS. With a top speed of 60 kilometers per hour, COMS can travel 50 kilometers on a five-hour charge. COMS has been available in Japan since this summer at 600,000 yen (about $7,700).
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“Insect” is being shown at CEATEC as a “concept car,” according to the Japanese automaker, meaning no price tag or no availability date.
Smart Insect also marks Toyota’s initial foray into the consumer electronics market. The auto maker is pitching the EV as a platform – or “a playground” – to showcase as many bells and whistles as its engineers could come up with.
With Japan’s electronics industry in a deep slump, it’s unclear whether the auto sector can provide it with a badly needed boost. Still, the two sectors continue to look for synergies.
Smart Insect features an elaborate motion detection system (Microsoft’s Kinect) to identify its owner along with other motion sensors used to predict driving behavior. A docking port in the dashboard for smart phones allows handsets to be synchronized with online services while recharging wirelessly. The Insect also has a large LCD screen above the steering wheel to display smart phone information.
The EV also displays a welcome message on front and rear screens when the owner approaches the car. A voice recognition technology allows the user to open the car door and to perform other functions.
It is also designed to connect with entertainment and navigation services via Toyota's Smart Center. An integrated home energy management system allows drivers to adjust air conditioning and lock the front door via a smart phone app.
Smart Insect represents Toyota strategy of “connecting people, cars and homes.” Ultimately, the vehicle is akin to a consumer electronics gadget offering telematics on steroids.
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boblespam
10/3/2012 2:21 AM EDT
it must be a joke, even the name is copied:
http://www.smartusa.com/models/electric-drive/overview.aspx
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Alionto
10/3/2012 6:15 AM EDT
But at half the cost!
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agk
10/3/2012 9:38 AM EDT
Looks very attractive with many user friendly features. Probably people affordable will go for this as a additional spare vehicle.
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William Miller
10/3/2012 10:01 AM EDT
It looks futuristic, like a spaceship. Agree with @boblespam, I'd never buy one - too little room. It's like a toy car for kids to play in a garden)
http://www.carid.com/
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DAH2136
10/3/2012 11:07 AM EDT
Its not a car, its a golf cart that's been taken over by overstimulated marketeers and eager engineers.
They should work on better cars not synching your iGizmos.
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xorbit
10/3/2012 11:37 AM EDT
Looks great, but will be a hard sell here in the US where half the population seems to think they need a 1 ton truck to haul their 180 pound body to work every day. Unfortunately, its advanced electronic systems do not include a brain upgrade.
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Scott SG.
10/3/2012 1:39 PM EDT
It's got a top speed of 37MPH and a range of 31 miles. At least a golf cart seats 2-4
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selinz
10/3/2012 1:50 PM EDT
The specs do seem quite similar to a golf cart. A new golf cart will hold two people but doesn't have doors. The price of a new one is on the order of $8k so this is clearly better if it is street legal. The 60km/hr limit is a problem though.
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derooney
10/3/2012 4:29 PM EDT
Insect seems appropriate because you'll look like a bug on the window when some idiot runs a red light in his big old SUV and T-bones you.
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Etmax
10/3/2012 8:36 PM EDT
The majority of our interconnect roads are 80kph someone is likely to push you out of the way :-)
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WKetel
10/3/2012 9:23 PM EDT
It is fine if they want to keep the ugly little toy in Japan. But a vehicle like that has no place on the roadways in the USA. We don't need such a piece of junk over here. There is simply no room on our roads for a vehicle that is a glorified extension of the drivers cell phone system.
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Duane Benson
10/3/2012 10:17 PM EDT
They could make a version for warmer climates that isn't enclosed. That would save weight and cost. Doing that would probably allow them to further reduce the weight by making it narrower. Maybe narrow enough to only need on set of tandem wheels. The weight savings might even allow for carriage of a passenger seated behind the driver. That would be kind of a dangerous vehicle though.
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tb1
10/9/2012 5:10 PM EDT
You can get an electric motorcycle that will go 100 miles and go 100MPH for just a little more than this.
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GREAT-Terry
10/12/2012 12:11 PM EDT
So driving finally doesn't look like driving anymore. It is fun!
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