Toyota’s autonomous vehicle concept signals the death of the car
By 2040 the concept of the car will be dead, replaced instead by autonomous multi-modal pods, and this is Toyota's vision of a possible future.
Key takeaways
- Toyota calls their latest pod the e-Palette, and it was the centrepiece of the company's press conference at CES 2018, and the automaker plans to let these autonomous vehicles loose at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
- For now, the e-Palette represents Toyota’s platform-driven future of tomorrow, so naturally it’s fully electric and self-driving.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2018) 'Toyota’s autonomous vehicle concept signals the death of the car', 311 Institute, 10 January. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/toyotas-newest-autonomous-vehicle-concept-signals-the-death-of-the-car/ (Accessed: 8 October 2026).
As we begin to stare the death of the car in the face, with even companies like Audi realising that societies eventual move to fully autonomous modes of transportation will mean they have to envision new types of vehicles, or pods, such as their new Long Distance Lounge concept, companies are now starting to let their imagination wander and not just re-imagine transportation and logistics, but re-imagine the world of on demand services as a whole.
Now, adding more fuel to the fire that the car as we know it is dead, or will be, Toyota have launched their latest concept – a delivery van, a restaurant, and an Uber all rolled into one. It’s the car as a blank canvas.
Toyota calls their latest pod the e-Palette, and it was the centrepiece of the company's press conference at CES 2018, and the automaker plans to let these autonomous vehicles loose at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. For now, the e-Palette represents Toyota’s platform-driven future of tomorrow, so naturally it’s fully electric and self-driving.
Our Autonomous Future
Company president Akio Toyoda called it a "plug and play" open standard that giant companies or small businesses could use for just about anything. Clearly this minibus could be a driverless ride-sharing vehicle you hail from your phone, and indeed, Uber is one of Toyota's early partners on this program, and Amazon is another, for obvious reasons.
The demonstration video for e-Palette shows these pods carrying cargo to and from distribution centers, where, say, a smaller pod would pick up your Amazon delivery and drive it to your home, and anything that fits into an e-Palette could become mobile.
Toyota asked the crowd to imagine a future Burning Man festival serviced by these self-driving Toyota pods turned into food trucks or shops, or, one of the autonomous vehicles could come to your house to pick up things you want to send to your storage unit.
It’s a great vision and it only serves to show how transformative autonomous vehicles will be, because, after all, if you don't need a driver's seat and a dashboard, then the traditional design of “what” a car is goes out the window, and anything goes.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
By 2040 the concept of the car will be dead, replaced instead by autonomous multi-modal pods, and this is Toyota's vision of a possible future.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 10 January 2018. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2018). Toyota’s autonomous vehicle concept signals the death of the car. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/toyotas-newest-autonomous-vehicle-concept-signals-the-death-of-the-car/
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