Toyota Unveils Beefed-Up Wireless System With On-Star Like Capabilities and G-Sound

TOKYO April 14, 2005; Yuri Kageyama writing for the AP reported that Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. announced Thursday a beefed up wireless system for cars that can call an ambulance when an air bag opens, play thousands of karaoke tunes and send a mobile phone message when a car door is left unlocked.

G-Book Alpha is similar to other wireless Internet-linked services offered by other automakers, such as OnStar by General Motors Corp. of the United States. It's an improved version of the service that Toyota began offering in 2002, which has drawn 80,000 users in Japan.

The system is different from rivals in using a telecommunications device contained in the car, rather than a mobile phone, to link to operators, who know where the car is at all times through a Global Positioning System satellite network.

The new system comes with on-demand car-audio called G-Sound, offering drivers more than 10,000 songs stored on the navigation system's hard drive.

Drivers can listen to a song for free for up to 40 seconds three times. Buying a song costs 100 yen (90 U.S. cents; 7 euro cents) to 300 yen (US$2.80; euro2.17), while buying it for a day costs 30 yen (30 U.S. cents; 2 euro cents) to 80 yen (75 U.S. cents; 58 euro cents).

For 700 yen ($6.50; euro5) a month, drivers can download karaoke, or prerecorded sing-along tunes.

"This is like a dream, but some day every car will come with this although I don't know when," said Senior Managing Director Akio Toyoda.

In a demonstration Thursday, Toyoda sat in a mock car, and a voice of an operator shouted, "Mr. Toyoda, Mr. Toyoda," when an air bag inflated. If the driver failed to respond in a real accident, the operator would call an ambulance.

The system also will monitor your car for possible theft, conduct restaurant searches and give you the quickest routes to requested destinations.

Toyota declined to say whether a similar system will be offered overseas. The company, based in Toyota city in central Japan, also did not give a target for Japan users for the revamped service.

The system is free for the first year after you buy a Toyota car but will later cost 12,000 yen (US$110; euro85) a year, and 18,000 yen (US$170; euro130) if you want it to operate as a handsfree phone and receive a mobile phone from KDDI Corp., in which Toyota owns a 12 percent stake.

If you're signed with any other carrier, the service will cost a hefty 33,000 yen (US$310; euro240).