Toyota Motor Corporation and salesforce.com announced yesterday that they have formed a strategic alliance to build “Toyota Friend”, a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars. Toyota Friend will be offered initially with Toyota’s electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) due in 2012. It will be offered first in Japan.
Toyota Friend will be a private social network that connects Toyota customers with their cars, their dealership, and with Toyota. Toyota Friend will provide a variety of product and service information as well as essential maintenance tips, creating a rich car ownership experience. For example, if an EV or PHV is running low on battery power, Toyota Friend would notify the driver to re-charge in the form of a “tweet”-like alert. In addition, while Toyota Friend will be a private social network, customers can choose to extend their communication to family, friends, and others through public social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. The service will also be accessible through smart phones, tablet PCs, and other advanced mobile devices.
Commenting on the alliance at a press conference in Tokyo, TMC President Akio Toyoda said: “Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication. The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation. I am always calling for Toyota to make ever-better cars. The alliance that we announce today is an important step forward in achieving that goal.”
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