Automobile manufacturers Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motor Corporation have announced a partnership through which they intend to develop a new advanced hybrid system for light truck and SUVs. The partnership is also supposed to chart future telematics standards.
Both Ford and Toyota is stated to be of the opinion that car technology should be safer, more secure and easier to use. The partnership will not leverage any consumer-facing products and for the advanced hybrid system and the future telematics standards, the standards in their own respective products, such as Ford's MyFord Touch and Toyota's Entune will be utilized.
Ford and Toyota have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the product development collaboration, with the formal agreement expected by next year. The new hybrid powertrain to be developed by the partnership will bring the full hybrid experience of greater fuel efficiency to a new group of truck and SUV customers without compromising the capability they require in their vehicles.
Toyota asserted that it is extremely proud to join Ford in developing a hybrid system for pickup trucks and SUVs. Not only is this tie-up clearly one aimed at making automobiles ever better, it should also become an important building block for future mobility in the U.S. By building a global, long-term relationship with Ford, Toyota’s desire is to be able to continue to provide people in America automobiles that exceed their expectations.
Ford wanted to offer customers with the very best affordable, advanced powertrains, delivering even better fuel economy. The partnership between Ford and Toyota is the kind of effort that is needed to cater to global demands of energy independence and environmental sustainability. The company added that it has made tremendous progress in the area of telematics and has unique and very good solutions today with SYNC and MyFordTouch. Working together on in-vehicle standards can only enhance customers' experience with their vehicles.
Toyota maintained that it recently entered into an agreement with Microsoft (News 
- Alert) to co-develop Toyota's next-generation telematics platform around Microsoft's Azure technology, using the car as a control hub for apps and data delivered from the cloud. Microsoft also has designed a telematics platform for Ford, called Sync.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Nathesh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nathesh's articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
