Toyota Motor Corporation has said that, beginning this month, new Japanese-market vehicle models with automatic transmissions will be equipped with the ‘Eco Drive Indicator’, a feature intended to encourage environmentally considerate driving.
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This development – aimed at reducing CO2 emissions through increased fuel efficiency – is part of Toyota’s efforts to combat global warming, the automaker said in its announcement.
Based on a comprehensive determination that takes into consideration such factors as accelerator use, engine and transmission efficiency and speed and rate of acceleration, the eco drive indicator, located on the instrument panel, lights up when the vehicle is being operated in a fuel-efficient manner. This, it is hoped, will raise driver awareness toward environmentally considerate driving and contribute to fuel economy.
Although results may vary – depending on the level of traffic and conditions such as the frequency of starts from stop and of acceleration, as well as distance driven – the indicator can improve fuel efficiency by approximately 4%, Toyota said.
TMC believes that a three-way approach that regards vehicles, the traffic environment and people as three pillars of an inter-related whole is necessary to truly contribute to the realisation of ‘sustainable mobility’.
TMC is undertaking driver-awareness initiatives, efforts to develop and commercialise environmental technologies and activities aimed at improving traffic environments using social systems that employ ITS (intelligent transportation systems).
The new eco drive indicator is one of the automaker’s driver-awareness initiatives.
