Toyota Motor Corp. and Salesforce.com Inc. agreed to create a social network that would allow owners of future Toyota electric and plug-in hybrids connect with each other and obtain information on their vehicles.Called “Toyota Friend,” the service will allows owners of the vehicles to exchange real time updates, or “tweets,” with other Toyota drivers, connect with local dealers and remotely obtain diagnostic information about their hybrid vehicles, such as battery usage, they said. It will debut in Japan before a global roll out later in 2012.
The agreement between Toyota and Salesforce.com, a San Francisco-based company that provides applications as an online service, comes as Japans leading auto maker plays catch up with rivals in areas such as dashboard telematics that offer wireless access to the Internet.
“This represents a concrete step towards creating a more mobile society,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said at a press conference in Tokyo. “Toyota can learn a lot from an entrepreneurial firm like Salesforce.com,” he added.
Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff said he proposed the idea for the brand-specific social media network in January during a meeting with Toyoda in Hawaii. “Toyota Friend is an idea that I had when I thought about the changes in our industry today,” he said on Monday in Tokyo. “The car is the true mobile device.”
Continues at: Toyota Plans Social Network for Car Owners – WSJ.com.
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