Toyota’s Autonomous E-Palette Vehicles To Transport Athletes At Tokyo 2020 Olympics

By: | October 24th, 2019

Image courtesy Toyota

In less than one year, the sporting world will descend on Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics. Japan is set to show off a portfolio of new technology along with its human sporting achievements.

Earlier we all saw how scrap metal recovered from electronic waste was used for the Games medals. Now, Official fleet provider Toyota has revealed that it planning a massive deployment of battery-electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The second-biggest automaker in the world Toyota’s 20 e-Palette electric vehicles will be transporting athletes and support staff throughout the Olympic and Paralympics villages.

Image courtesy Toyota

The e-Palette is designed for a fuss-free and comfortable transport

This multi-purpose vehicle will have large doors, low floors and electric ramps to allow wheelchair users to board easily and quickly. It will also have lift-up seating inside to create space for up to four wheelchair users.

Though the e-Palettes will have a safety operator aboard but these vehicles will be controlled by an automated driving system using cameras and LiDAR, 3D mapping and control software.  The e-Palette has a speed of up to 19 km/h (12 mph) with a range of about 150 km (just over 90 mi) on a single charge.

Nidhi Goyal

Nidhi is a gold medalist Post Graduate in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

More articles from Industry Tap...