DALLAS — Toyota wasn't always a car company. It started as a spinoff of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in the 1930s, as scion Kiichiro Toyoda sought to apply the lessons of his father's groundbreaking innovations in textile production to the rolling tech marvel of the moment, the automobile.
Now one of the world's largest automakers, Toyota Motor Corp. is attempting another such reinvention — from car company to mobility company. And heeding a call to action from President Akio Toyoda, grandson of Kiichiro, it's leveraging an eight-year Olympic sponsorship deal and its first global marketing campaign to lay out its vision of mobility for the world.
Instead of Camrys and Priuses, the campaign will showcase Toyota's research into support robots for the elderly, all-terrain wheelchairs, a guidance device for the blind and vehicle pods that use artificial intelligence to bond with their owners.