HFS Highlight: NTT DATA forges new partnership with TOYOTA Connected in the connected car segment

In April 2020, TOYOTA Connected and NTT DATA announced a new partnership to increase the functions and services of the Mobility Service Platform (MSPF) offered by Toyota Motor Corporation across the globe. Through this alliance, TOYOTA Connected and NTT DATA aim to develop a more robust MSPF utilizing their expertise in core mobility services and leveraging a growing library of vehicle big data.

The partnership will be instrumental for Toyota’s overall connected strategy program to leverage the MSPF platform to provide several value-added services to the customers by connecting the stakeholders such as retailers, insurers, etc.

Toyota and NTT expanded their long-standing partnership in the smart mobility segment

In 2017, Toyota and NTT collaborated on the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) Platform R&D for Connected Cars to establish technologies for the creation of a Smart Mobility Society. As the connected car segment continues to mature with Toyota including smart features in its car models and promoting the deployment of MSPF, this partnership will support Toyota’s global MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) strategy. 

This partnership demonstrates a balance between domain and technology capabilities as TOYOTA Connected brings its expertise in connected car service (including capability in service development and operations) and NTT DATA brings its IT capability (cloud and big data) as shown in Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 1: Highlights of the NTT DATA and TOYOTA Connected partnership

Source: NTT DATA

In the mid-term, both companies will leverage their customer base to enhance the service capabilities of MSPF across different business areas including Smart City initiatives. This MSPF platform can be integrated into the smart city concept that can be used for smart city applications such as traffic management and transportation, improving public safety, emergency response, etc.

Service providers are collaborating with automotive companies for connected car platform development

Automotive players (suppliers, OEMs) and IT service providers are collaborating to develop connected car platforms leveraging each other’s strong areas. Service providers bring their software capability (primarily data management capabilities (storage and analysis) to enable new service offerings whereas automotive players bring their domain prowess to make the overall development successful. Some of the recent examples include in this area are

• In 2019, Accenture, Faurecia, and Affectiva collaborated to develop the Car Cabin of the future, enabling driver safety and in-car infotainment for occupants
• In 2020, Tata Elxsi and Tata Motors collaborated to develop unified connected vehicle platform, enabling connected vehicle feature for Tata Motor’s passenger and commercial vehicles

Bottom Line: Building the right partnership ecosystem is the key to connected car expertise

The advancement of the connected car paradigm demands expertise across broad areas including automotive electronics, connectivity, cloud computing, and data intelligence. So, the right partnership ecosystem can accelerate the development with complementary capabilities. For example, Microsoft is collaborating with LG Electronics, Faurecia, and Luxoft among others for its Connected Vehicle Platform development. So, the partnership between TOYOTA Connected and NTT DATA builds on past collaboration to help further end-to-end connected car technology expertise together. It will ultimately enable end-to-end vehicle management including value-added services offerings under a single platform.