Toyota’s Wildest Mobility Concepts at the Tokyo Mobility Show

The name gives it away. The Tokyo Mobility Show is currently taking place in Japan’s capital, rather than the Tokyo Motor Show. Carmakers no longer want to be boxed in as businesses that simply build cars; instead, they see themselves as ‘mobility providers.’

Toyota has embraced that approach wholeheartedly, unveiling an expansive and eccentric collection of ‘stuff that ain’t cars’ at this year’s event. These are the highlights.

Toyota mobility concepts for children and disabled people

Kids Mobi is, genuinely, a car intended for children. Its creators considered whether AI and autonomous driving could mean children might own cars in future, as they would not require a licence. We suspect there are plenty of legal issues still to resolve, but the result is essentially a futuristic Little Tykes car, complete with a welcoming face, animated ‘eyes’ and self-driving technology. Adorable.

Toyota has also strongly promoted the idea that ‘if you’re not mobile, mobility should come to you’. That has produced three new vehicle prototypes for disabled people. One is a cross between a crab and an office chair, designed to let paralysed, older or disabled users walk, run and even dance.

Another resembles a Segway combined with a sports bike, capable of moving quickly and leaning through corners. It is intended to assist with sports including tennis and basketball. That will probably be banned from the Paralympics fairly soon.

There is also the intriguing ‘Land Cruiser of wheelchairs’. Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda reportedly requested it specially, explaining that, at 69, he wants to keep drifting, performing donuts and racing off-road during retirement. It therefore comes with two chunky tyres and a hard-wearing, go-anywhere chassis.

IMV Origin: Toyota’s flat-pack truck

That wheelchair is not Toyota’s only robust machine aimed at opening up a future market. Arguably, the show’s most significant vehicle is the IMV Origin.

This flat-pack truck leaves the factory 70 per cent assembled in a crate. A single shipping container can carry six, after which the recipient fits the cab, driving controls and other components on site. Toyota says the process will create employment wherever the vehicles are delivered. The final configuration is up to the user: it could become a refuse truck, delivery vehicle, ice-cream van, pick-up, cattle transporter or virtually anything else.

It is basic, durable and straightforward, and Toyota says it was conceived for parts of Africa where people lack access to surfaced roads and cannot afford the vehicles already on sale.

The idea may sound familiar if you recall the Gordon Murray Design OX truck, another flat-pack, self-assembly off-road workhorse developed for use in Africa.

That programme never progressed beyond its widely praised design-concept phase. However, with the resources of global giant Toyota supporting it, an Ikea-style DIY truck for some of the world’s poorest communities could now have a future. Just like the wheelchairs without wheels…