Toyota Unveils Big Data Car with Satellite Technology

At the 2016 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) held in Detroit, Toyota unveiled the Mirai, an antenna-equipped hydrogen fuel cell powered car that is, not surprisingly, equipped with satellite communications technology.

Partnering with Kymeta Corporation, an Intellectual Ventures spin-off satellite services provider and listed one of 50 Disruptive Companies by MIT Review in 2013, the car giant plans to join Kymeta’s superior communication technology with Toyota’s cars to add high-speed broadband connectivity to cars globally. Toyota has invested $5 million in Kymeta for the development of futuristic technology for cars.

The car features flat-panel antennas on the roof facilitating the exchange of data from the car to the satellite and vice versa.

Combining satellite technology to the automotive sector has immense benefits for all. Apart from providing services such as Skype calls, online gaming and internet access, satellite technology allows for a more secure and stable environment for communication to a car, widespread distribution of big data to any vehicle and the deployment of connected cars to a global audience. The future holds in store the perfect ‘connected car’.

“Satellite connectivity can best address the capacity, coverage and security concerns of conventional solutions to car connectivity. Better yet, these assets are available now. We don’t have to wait ten years for a next generation cellular network to be invented and deployed. This will be crucial because 5 years from now, every car that comes off a production line should be connected. In fact, we should stop calling it the ‘connected car’, and just call it ‘the car’, because this is the future of automotive,” said Dr. Nathan Kundtz, CEO of Kymeta Corporation.

Having a connected car can be a great help for entertainment, as data connectivity allows the car to receive music, movies, and other media to the car’s entertainment system directly without any connected devices like USBs or CDs.

Connected cars also help in emergency situations. For example, if the airbags deploy, the car can send a signal to the communications center to send for help immediately without the driver needing to make a phone call for emergency services.

“For several years, Toyota met with emerging companies around the world to investigate new technologies. We were very excited to learn about Kymeta because their flat antennae technology could solve the challenge of vehicle-based satellite communications,” said Shigeki Tomoyama, Senior Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Toyota plans to release this technology by the end of 2017, with future plans to install it in as many vehicles as possible in the future.