Toyota converted the front seat of their Crown luxury car into an office chair. The end result is disturbingly reminiscent to anyone who has ever snuggled into their Crown to get comfortable on a long trip, except this time the curve of the seat meets a computer and monitor rather than a steering wheel.
Photo credit: Justin White
Justin White spent 13 months working in his Australian garage on a project that evolved from humble beginnings to something far greater than anyone had anticipated. He had set out to build a half-scale duplicate of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. This was not a model, however; it was a single-seater built to travel down real roads rather than rest on a shelf. The finished design piqued Toyota Gazoo Racing’s interest, and they quickly flew both White and his innovation to the Rallye Monte Carlo, the season opener for 2026.
On April 12, crowds flocked to Toyota Arena in Tokyo to witness CUE7 come to life on the court. Standing 219 cm (7’2″) tall, it moved with an unsettlingly steady balance as it retrieved a basketball off the ground. When the robot began to move, it appeared to be playing basketball like any other player, with deft dribbles and precise motions. When the robot took a free shot in front of 8,400 yelling spectators, the ball left its hands in a perfect arc and fell over the net.
The 2027 Toyota Highlander employs purely electric motors, eliminating gas and hybrids, marking the company’s first three-row battery electric vehicle in the US. This is a considerable shift from the gas and hybrid models, which now paves the way for Toyota to develop a midsize SUV with quick response, quiet operation, and enough capacity for a family.
Toyota Industries Corporation has begun testing Level 4 autonomous driving at one of the world’s largest airports, Haneda near Tokyo. By the end of 2025, the company will have deployed three electric towing tractors that will begin making regular trips, transporting containers loaded with baggage and cargo for domestic flights operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA).
Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is rarely in the news for anything other than vehicles, but their robotics team has been quietly revolutionizing things in ways that will matter during the holiday season. The institute’s personnel devised a strategy to align their superior technology with the needs of their local community at this time of year. A large group of people, including some with no robotics background, collaborated with the researchers to teach the robot arms a new trick.
Toyota has recently revealed details about the GR GT, a two-seater that appears to be straight out of the company’s performance playbook. A front-engine supercar at a time when Toyota’s Gazoo racing squad has spent years fine-tuning cars like the Supra and GR Yaris, the GR GT takes it to the next level. It strikes a balance between being able to drive to the stores and having enough grip and speed to necessitate the presence of a nearby track.
The lights of the Las Vegas convention center floor were ablaze as Toyota pulled the covers off a machine nobody saw coming: Scion is back and this time it’s on a four seat off-road beast designed to take a beating in the sand, rocks and stillness of the wilderness. Make way for the Scion 01, a side-by-side that takes the Tacoma heart, wraps it in super tough steel and dares you to leave the pavement behind.
