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Featured Unconfirmed Rumor of New Toyota & Tesla Partnership

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by PriusCamper, Apr 1, 2021.

  1. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    “It is reported that Tesla and Toyota have reviewed the partnership since last year and are approaching the final stage. According to an official from the Japanese automobile industry on the 28th , Tesla and Toyota are considering jointly developing a small electric SUV platform (the car’s basic skeleton). The partnership review has been conducted since last year. Toyota provides the vehicle platform to Tesla, and instead, Tesla provides some of the electronic control platform and software technology onboard its vehicle to Toyota.” [단독] 테슬라·도요타, 반값 전기차 만드나… 제휴 임박
     
  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    The engineering culture clash is unlikely to lead to anything I would have any interest. Think “Young Dr. Frankenstein.”

    I don’t see anything Tesla/Musk would find in Toyota worth a second look.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Agreed that Tesla's interest in Toyota would not be for anything more meaningful than making Toyota a parts maker who can produce at lower cost than other Tesla parts makers. But from Toyota's perspective, this gets their foot in the door on access to software development that Toyota is not structured to develop on their own. And as Electrek said:

    "...it is based on a report that doesn’t have a lot of credibility. We weren’t planning to share this report, but several other publications are sharing it seriously, so we thought we would cover it with some more context." Tesla and Toyota rumored to be partnering on electric SUV based on super weak report - Electrek
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    hard to believe with toyotas electric experience that they don't have everything they need, but anything is possible i suppose.
     
  5. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Main difference is that software companies, which is what Elon Musk does best, tend to push a product out as finished and complete when it's barely even built and then push updates out to refine the software every month or more. Whereas Toyota builds millions of cars and they go to great lengths on a massive scale to never have to further refine or improve on the vehicle once it's sold. If you own a 2016 Model S Tesla it's running 2021 software. If you own a 2016 Prius, you get zero features from the 2021 Prius software. Toyota would have to spend hundreds of millions to resolve that. But if they partnered with Tesla for software, they wouldn't have to deal with that.
     
  6. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    The link is Korean.
    Viewed thru Google Translate:


    .
     
  7. Zythryn

    Zythryn Senior Member

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    Happy April 1st. o_O
     
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  8. Rmay635703

    Rmay635703 Senior Member

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    Toyota already built Tesla powered rav4’s
     
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  9. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    350.png
     
  10. dbstoo

    dbstoo Senior Member

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    While that sounds great, I've heard that just like old cell phones, there are features that can't be pushed to the older models due to hardware restraints and (evidently) other issues. FSD was one that required hardware upgrades, often at an extra price.

    Personally, I never want to have a car that receives beta grade OTA updates of the software that controls the car. I'm surprised that the government allows it. I don't want the functionality of the car to change frequently. It's bad enough that you have to get reoriented when you switch from one car to the next. It's worse when you have to figure out what happened to the windshield wiper switch while driving at 70 MPH on the freeway during a sudden squall.
     
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  11. John321

    John321 Senior Member

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    If we are talking about Self Driving software Toyota already has multiple partners-maybe no need for more

    Toyota, Autonomous Vehicle Startup Aurora Enter Self-Driving Cars Partnership - Bloomberg

    Toyota does have a history of Automotive partnership- General Motors, Subaru, Mazda, Ford, Hino Motors, Daewoo, along with others. One more would not be unanticipated or surprising.

    Usually the deciding factor is if there is a good business case for the partnership and if Toyota will receive a perceived benefit from the alliance.

    Tesla is an interesting and innovative electric car manufacture- but just a bit player in total car volume sales worldwide.
    Toyota is currently the leader in world car volume sales and the most successful automobile maker worldwide.
    It would be interesting to see if they really partner what each would hope to gain.
     
    #11 John321, Apr 2, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    my translation: WILL TESLA AND TOYOTA MAKE HALF-BAKED ELECTRIC CARS?
     
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  13. dbstoo

    dbstoo Senior Member

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    Strangely enough, I saw one of these Rav4 Electric models yesterday. It had a license plate from around 2013, so it was one of the Toy-Tesla models.

    Even stranger, I saw one of the original Rav4 electrics last week. That was a model from the 1997 - 2003 era. What are the odds of that? :)

    We have a lot of Rav4 Hybrids here, so all I need to spot now is a Rav4 Prime this month and I'll have a hat trick!
     
  14. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    The owner has the option of not installing the software. Just the bug fixes are better than any new bugs.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  15. dbstoo

    dbstoo Senior Member

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    Sorry Bob, but that sentence does not parse. Are you saying that the existing bugs are so bad that any new bugs would have to be better? Or that it's worth it to get new bugs in order to get the features to work right? Can you reword it so that I can understand your point better?

    Thanks
     
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  16. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    There are software bugs that in severe cases makes parts unusable. For example AutoPilot 2019 was scary on a two lane, right curve. But that is fixed.

    There are newer user interfaces that are unreliable but not a safety risk. For example, trying to check the trip meters is ambiguous so it can cause the rendered vehicle image to rotate adding no value to the display. BUT, it is not a safety issue.

    Bob Wilson
     
  17. 3PriusMike

    3PriusMike Prius owner since 2000, Tesla M3 2018

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    Not sure what Bob was meaning, but since I took delivery of my Model 3 about 2.5 years ago I have gotten the following new features via OTA updates:
    - dashcam (just install a USB flash drive to get this after the update)
    - sentry mode (same USB flash drive and the various cameras record when people approach the car and it warns them)
    - dog mode (allows keeping inside cool in case you want to leave your pet in a car)
    - various game and ability to watch Netflix; for example while you are waiting for someone or charging)
    - faster Supercharging. Max rate went from 120 kw to 250 kw via software
    - battery pre-conditioning (when you are on your way to a Supercharger the battery temp is heated or cooled so it can accept faster charging
    - Supercharger info available on touch screen updated to show more info about charger availability, number of units, etc.
    - added an optional security PIN for unlocking the glove box (i.e. to prevent valet access)
    - numerous media player updates

    This is all the important ones I can think of...there are a lot more.
    Oh yeah, they've been constantly improving the self driving features.

    Mike
     
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  18. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    An excellent example of what Toyota is incapable of pushing over the air to all their vehicles of the past few years. Toyota would have to spend tens of millions to do this, or they could eventually license it from Tesla for much less if they can interest Tesla in cheap car parts to lower costs for Tesla's assembly line. Or at least that's the theory behind the rumor.
     
  19. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Walking our neighborhood our dog is pretty good at finding them

    2016-01-01 11.52.30-1.jpg
    .
     
  20. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    any new rumours?
     
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