Building on cloud-power
Microsoft and Toyota have agreed to partner to fuse next-gen telematics into Toyota vehicles.
As part of the deal, the two companies will be investing $12m in Toyota Media Services, a Toyota unit which handles digital information services.
Using Microsoft's cloud computing platform Azure, the software giant aims to provide features like GPS, power-management and multimedia services to Toyota hybrid vehicles by 2012.
Toyota hopes to be able to offer them to customers worldwide by 2015.
As part of the project, Toyota is plans to conduct trials in Japan, which plans to link people, automobiles and homes for integrated control of energy consumption.
Commenting on the partnership, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the partnership with TMC continues to exhibit its interest in providing services to the automotive industry. "It further validates the power of the cloud, as the Windows Azure platform will provide the enterprise-grade, scalable platform that TMC needs to deliver telematics in its automobiles worldwide," he added.
Microsoft has worked with Toyota for more than a decade, however, Toyota president Akio Toyoda said "This new partnership between Microsoft and Toyota is an important step in developing greater future mobility and energy management for consumers around the world."
Microsoft has shown a lot of interest in the automotive market even in the past like infotainment systems built on the Windows Embedded Automotive platform, in-car mapping services with Bing and the Microsoft Tellme voice application. However, it has been focusing most of its efforts building infotainment services for Ford cars.
