Microsoft and Toyota have formed a partnership that will develop a global platform for the automaker’s telematics services using the Windows Azure platform. Microsoft several years ago partnered with Ford to develop the SYNC system which allows mobile phones to be operated via the vehicle controls and is also behind a Fiat telematics application.
Toyota and Microsoft will pour JPY1bn (approximately $12 million) into Toyota Media Service, a TMC subsidiary that offers digital information services to Toyota automotive customers. The two companies plan to help develop and use telematics applications on the Windows Azure platform, which includes Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure, starting with TMC’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012.
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“TMC’s goal is to establish a complete global cloud platform by 2015 that will provide affordable and advanced telematics services to Toyota automotive customers around the world,” the automaker said in a statement.
As part of its smart-grid activities, aimed at achieving a low-carbon society through efficient energy use, TMC is conducting trials in Japan of its Toyota Smart Center pilot programme, which plans to link people, vehicles and homes for integrated control of energy consumption. TMC believes that, as electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles become more popular, such systems will rely more on telematics services for achieving efficient energy management.
Microsoft has a long history of delivering platforms and services to the automotive market, including in-car infotainment systems built on the Windows Embedded Automotive platform, in-car mapping services with Bing and the Microsoft Tellme voice application.
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