In an attempt to make its cars friendlier to their users, Toyota is setting up a social networking service with the help of Microsoft and Salesforce.com, on the lines of Facebook and Twitter which will enable the drivers to interact with their cars. “Toyota Friend,” a joint venture of Toyota Motor Corp, and Salesforce.com, a California based company, is an exclusive private social network which works similar to tweets on Twitter. The exchanges between the car and the car owners can be kept private or be shared with other “Toyota Friend” users, as well as made public on forums like Twitter or Facebook.
Though the companies reserved divulging the details like management of technology of the talking car’s dialogues to a later date, they expressed confidence that the cars and their users will become friends through this networking service. As many cars come equipped with navigation and other network-linking options they can easily function as a mobile device much like iPhone or Android, making the interaction between the car and the users easier. Constructed on open-source cloud platforms of Salesforce.com and Microsoft’s platform, Toyota’s service will be launched in Japan in 2012 followed by its launch in the rest of the world.
As commented by Marc Benioff, Chief Executive of Salesforce.com, social networks can be instrumental in adding value to the company and their products. Thus, “Toyota Friend” is designed to not only bring cars and its users closer, but also, it is an attempt to bring Toyota closer to its users.