Toyota to Commercialize In-Vehicle Proprietary OS in 2025... Aiming for 'Platformer' Status Based on Subscription Fees

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation is set to independently develop vehicle software, which serves as the brain of the car. The plan is not only to install it in its own products but also to sell it to other automakers, creating a new revenue stream based on subscription fees.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 4th, Toyota plans to commercialize the vehicle software "Arene" by 2025. "Arene," led by Toyota's subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings, is a vehicle-specific version of software comparable to Microsoft's Windows and Apple's iOS.

Toyota aims for "Arene" to comprehensively handle control functions such as steering, brakes, and acceleration, as well as reception of navigation and traffic information.

Previously, German Volkswagen began developing "vw.OS," a software at the same level as Toyota's Arene, and Daimler is reportedly planning to use vehicle-embedded base software called "MB.OS" in its vehicles starting in 2024.

Toyota intends to develop Arene so that vehicles equipped with it can share common functions regardless of the manufacturer or model.

If this plan is realized, from the automaker's perspective, it will become easier to add features that improve autonomous driving or the performance of vehicle-installed devices by allowing users to download the latest versions via the internet, similar to updating a smartphone.

Toyota plans to first install Arene in its own vehicles as early as 2025 and provide it to domestic and international manufacturers producing electric vehicles (EVs) and others, including partners like Subaru, to generate licensing revenue.

This is essentially the same principle as Tesla generating subscription revenue by selling its own software.

Toyota also plans to open Arene to external software developers, allowing businesses not specialized in automobiles to participate in developing autonomous driving and vehicle parts control technologies.

In this case, various businesses can add car-related services like smartphone apps. Toyota expects that as users and developers increase, the data will become vast, creating a platform-like effect that generates new services.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, "Not only automakers but also global IT companies such as Google and Apple are competing fiercely in this field, aiming to lead the standard specifications of vehicle-embedded base software and secure the position of a platform provider that makes money." It added, "Toyota is strengthening its response system by increasing the proportion of software personnel among new university graduate technical employees from the original 20% level to 40-50% starting this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.