Toyota to showcase advanced autonomous electric cars at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

NAGOYA – Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday its e-Palette autonomous electric vehicles will transport athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The boxy battery-powered vehicle with no driver seat, unveiled in January as future transportation for use in a broad range of services such as ride hailing and package delivery, will operate in the athletes' village, Toyota said. As Japan's largest automaker by volume is accelerating the development of green and safer vehicles, it will provide a fleet of over 3,000 passenger vehicles for official use in the Olympics, including the Mirai, the world's first mass-produced fuel-cell car, and the Sora, a fuel-cell bus. Fuel-cell vehicles are powered by electricity generation through a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, a green system that Toyota has long been focusing on as a promising future technology. The automaker also plans to offer connected cars with its hybrids, plug-in hybrids and other electrified vehicles.