Toyota adds i-Road to urban mobility trials

TOYOTA has added its futuristic i-Road concept to its “Ha:mo” urban transport trials.

It is the latest vehicle to be added to the rapidly expanding scheme, which is being held at the so-called Toyota City; Toyota’s huge presence in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture.

The Ha:mo (Harmonious Mobility network) trials are an attempt to develop a sophisticated, integrated transport system for cities, making use of electric vehicles wherever possible but with the key emphasis on encouraging travellers to use the ‘most appropriate’ means of transport at all times.

The system works in a similar way to certain urban car rental schemes, making use of a smartphone app to suggest the most traffic-free routes, book a vehicle rental and access bus timetables. The app can also forecast weekly traffic patterns to encourage more efficient planning and better road network usage.

The i-Road will join other ‘intelligent’ electric vehicles to create a total of 200 electric vehicles for public use. There will be 100 covered ‘cars’ and 100 Yamaha power-assisted bicycles.

From today a fee system will also be introduced to gauge the commercial viability of the scheme. Rates start at around 200 Yen (£1.30) for the first 10 minutes and about 20 Yen (13p) for each minute thereafter.

By Press Association reporter