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Toyota's car subscription service rewards you for safe driving

Toyota has teamed up with Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service Company to launch a new car subscription service with gamification elements in Japan. The program is called Kinto, and it'll offer two tiers: the first, called Kinto One, will allow you to drive one Toyota vehicle over a three-year period for anywhere between $420 and $900 a month. When the tier becomes available on March 1st, you can choose from the available Prius, Corolla Sport, Alphard, Vellfire and Crown models. The other tier called Kinto Select will give you the power to drive one of the available Lexus-branded vehicles for $1,630 a month for three years. Now, what truly makes Kinto potentially more interesting than other leasing services is a rewards program that awards points based on how well you drive. Toyota didn't really expound on how it will work, other than saying that it will "award points to customers based on their vehicle usage (such as for safe or ecological driving)." As TechCrunch notes, the assumption is that the vehicle's in-car connected system will come with the ability to monitor your driving. Best thing about it is that the points you earn aren't useless rewards you can't even use: you'll be able to apply them toward payments. Kinto's Select option will be available starting on February 6th, almost a full month before the more affordable Kinto One launches. Both will be available via select dealers in Tokyo on a trial basis, and they won't officially roll out across Japan until summer. The points program won't be available until fall, when Kinto One's options will also expand. Unfortunately, there's no word on whether Kinto will eventually roll out in the US and other markets outside Toyota's home nation.For more information on Vehicle Subscription Services, check out the Complete Guide.Reporting by Mariella Moon for Engadget.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Lexus still planning seven-seat crossover

In case you're thinking, "But Lexus already has a seven-seat crossover in the GX 460," that's actually a proper SUV - the body-on-frame kind with the massive footprint and floaty handling. A report in Automotive News says that Lexus is trying to figure out how to produce a true crossover with space for seven humans, with the options narrowed down to growing the RX (pictured) or sorting out a brand new model.
How badly does the brand want it? Its chief told AN that another row is first on the list of dealer requests, that the offering could be worth 35,000 more sales per year and they don't care if it eats into five-seater RX sales - "We want it." But hey, when 40 percent of monthly sales are made up of the RX, and Lexus moved more than 103,000 of them in 2013, it's understandable that the company wouldn't mind risking a small hit for the chance to increase sales by a third of their current levels.
Toyota applied to trademark the name TX and that's already been mooted in reports as a replacement for the GX, said to end its life in 2016. The latest report, however, suggests that the GX might not go away since it's "highly profitable for the automaker, even at low volumes," and that "TX coding could merely be for a seven-seat variant of the RX 350." AN also wonders if this larger hauler would stay on the recently lengthened Toyota Highlander platform, which offers meager third-row seating, or switch to the rear-wheel-drive platform used by the IS and GS for tauter responsiveness. With Lexus saying it will be at least two years before it could be brought to market, we have a while to wait yet to find out.

May Mobility announces A2GO autonomous shuttle in Ann Arbor, Mich.

PONTIAC, Mich. — Today, at the Motor Bella auto show, May Mobility announced it would launch its A2GO autonomous shuttle service in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the company is headquartered. The free service launches on October 11, and users can hail a ride through an app. The program will employ four Lexus RX 450h vehicles, servicing Ann ArborÂ’s downtown, Kerrytown district, the University of MichiganÂ’s Central Campus, and the State Street Corridor, covering a service area of 2.64 square miles. Each car will have a supervisor in the driverÂ’s seat to intervene if needed. The on-demand service keeps accessibility in mind with a wheelchair-accessible vehicle in the fleet. May Mobility and its partners will collect anonymous data to “help the city identify the weak and less safe zones in order to better plan infrastructures,” according to Bastien Beauchamp, CEO of !important Safety Technologies, a partner of the A2GO pilot. “Our vision is to transform cities through autonomous mobile to change the way people get around,” said May Mobility CEO Edwin Olson. “ItÂ’s especially exciting to be launching in our hometown. Ann Arbor is the eighth city to host a May Mobility shuttle service. So far, May Mobility has provided more than 285,000 autonomous rides globally. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Green Detroit Auto Show Misc. Auto Shows Lexus Transportation Alternatives Emerging Technologies Crossover SUV Autonomous Vehicles Hybrid