T
OKYO -- Toyota has
spent three years
studying ground ve-
hi-
cles at the past two
Olympics so it could improve
transport at the 2020 Tokyo
games.
a person’s emotions using
artificial intelligence. Also, on
tap: a working e-Palette, a
boxcar-like self-driving urban
people mover.
Now, a year before the open-
ing ceremony, it has unveiled
its bold ambition: Build a bet-
ter golf cart. Toyota is taking a special in-
terest in the games because it
is a top Olympics sponsor and
the official “mobility partner”
of the Olympics and Paralym-
pics Games.
Toyota’s first dedicated Olym-
pic vehicle, shown to report-
ers here on Thursday, will be
a van-sized, open-air, three-
row full-electric people mover
that can seat five passengers
and one driver. Toyota has said it plans to use
the Tokyo games to showcase
new mobility technology, say-
ing a key priority is providing
mobility for all people, espe-
cially those who cannot drive
themselves.
Toyota dubs it the APM, short
for Accessible People Mover. “This is unprecedented
development,” Yanaka said,
noting that Toyota fiddled with
countless pilot projects and
mockups before settling on the
final design.
The automaker said it plans
to build 200 of the runabouts
to shuttle staff, athletes and
special needs visitors at the
Olympics and Paralympics
when Tokyo plays host to
global athletic competitions
next summer.
The APM lacked the pizzazz
of many of the future mobil-
ity concepts long speculated
about by Japanese media.
First and foremost, has been
the idea of a flying car to light
the Olympic flame.
Toyota itself said last year that
some of its funkiest concept
vehicles will come to life as
real, road-running models
during the games. They will
include, Toyota promised,
an operating version of the
Concept-i, an egg-shaped
electric vehicle that senses
To be sure, the APM is just the
first of several vehicles expect-
ed to debut before the games
convene. It is arguably also
more practical than the other
flights of fancy some envision.
The APM is positioned as a
“last-mile” vehicle that still
needs a human driver to nav-
igate the hustle and bustle of
crowded stadiums and other
Olympic venues. That leaves
open the possibility of other,
more automated, systems to
convey people longer distanc-
es, over set routes.
The APM has a range of 100
kilometers (62 miles) and a top
speed of 19 km/h (12 mph).
The vehicle is also versatile.
Seats can be reconfigured to
accommodate a stretcher for
injured people or wheelchairs.
A ramp slides out from the
bottom, letting wheelchairs
roll onboard.
“Our concept is based on the
idea of mobility for all,” said
Akihiro Yanaka, group manag-
er of Toyota’s ZEV Factory, a
newly created unit for devel-
oping zero-emissions vehicles.
Yanaka said the APM was
created with extensive feed-
back from user groups and
Olympic organizers. Toyota
engineers also studied the
plethora of golf cart-like vehi-
cles used at the 2016 Summer
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and
last year’s winter games in
PyeongChang, South Korea.
“This is unprecedented devel-
opment,” Yanaka said, not-
ing that Toyota fiddled with
countless pilot projects and
mockups before settling on
the final design.
A couple of tweaks allow the
APM to be easily modified
from an all-in-one runabout,
to a medical vehicle or shuttle
for the handicapped. Separate
vehicles are not needed. The
APM seats more people that a
golf cart. And it has a flat floor
and seats designed for easy
entry and exit.
“We don’t want to transport
people around like luggage,”
Yanaka said. “We want them
to be safe, comfortable and
have peace of mind.”
SEPTEMBER 2019
25