Toyota will deliver a homegrown operating system with one of its best-selling vehicles by next March, in a bid by the world’s largest carmaker to catch up with Tesla and Chinese rivals’ software lead.
The in-house system, known as Arene, will provide over-the-air updates to help drivers with manoeuvres such as lane keeping and parking, as well as multimedia and entertainment features. It will debut in the next-generation RAV4 sport utility vehicle.
The software platform is central to Toyota’s efforts to lay the groundwork for autonomous driving, accumulate driving data and catch up with competitors that have banked on the provision of digital services — paid and unpaid — to add value to cars.