First Notice! Japan Will Push Internet in Cars: Toyota drivers in Japan can shop via inbuilt web

Japan Today reported that The Toyota Motor Corp plans to put an e-commerce system in motion on the strength of mobile phones and car navigation systems by teaming up with FM radio stations across Japan, Toyota officials said Wednesday.

Starting in August, Toyota will enable drivers to place orders for compact disks of music to which they are listening via FM radio broadcasts by operating mobile phones, the officials said.

Toyota will allow drivers to buy any type of goods, pay for them, and book seats at restaurants by operating car navigation systems.

Drivers will be allowed to do the same from next spring on the basis of car navigation systems, they said.

Drivers will be allowed to gather information on the titles of the music they are listening to while driving, by contacting, via the web, Media Click, a venture which Toyota will set up in July with Dentsu Inc and other allies, they said.

In the subsequent phase of the business program, Toyota will allow drivers to buy any type of goods, pay for them, and book seats at restaurants by operating car navigation systems, they said.

To enable the system to work, FM radio broadcasters will automatically send to Media Click information about the pieces of music they are airing on an around-the-clock basis, at the moment when they are broadcasting those pieces.

When drivers send inquiries to Media Click via the web, the company will allow the drivers to either learn more about the music pieces or pay for the CD, they said.

To be entitled to the service, drivers will have to pay a few hundred yen from the second year of subscribing to the service, although they will not have to pay in the initial year, they said.

Recipients of the service on the basis of their car navigation systems will be allowed to download music pieces to which they are listening into the memory devices of their car navigation systems.

They will be also allowed to get information via the Net on the location of a shop where they can buy the CD containing the music in question, they said.

Toyota envisions spreading similar services to Europe, Asia and the United States in the future.

Radio broadcasters will receive a certain percentage of the value of CDs bought by drivers, while they will be freed from the current complications of responding to up to 1,000 inquiries a day about the music they play on air.

Down the track, Toyota will enable drivers to buy books introduced in the course of radio programs, while reserving restaurant seats introduced during such radio programs, they said.

The government itself envisages making Japanese automobiles into a sort of "Internet car" equipped with highly sophisticated computer terminals that will enable drivers to access a range of information services.

The latest Toyota business plan will open the way for the government plan to be fulfilled, they added. (Kyodo News)