As part of its ongoing efforts to make mobility smarter, more convenient and more comfortable, and as a way to increase the value cars add to lives, Toyota will leverage its cloud-based Toyota Smart Center, which links people, cars, and homes.

Panasonic is a pioneer in providing various smart home appliances such as televisions, video equipment, and air conditioners. The company is working to develop new smart homes that are environment-friendly and connected to a network to support better lifestyles.

Last June, the two companies agreed to co-develop services for next-generation telematics systems that link cars to home appliances. Since then, the companies have developed an interface to link their respective cloud services. They have also laid the groundwork for new services, including development of apps for in-car operation and status checking of home appliances. For example, an app linked with vehicle GPS data will remind the user to turn off the air conditioner before leaving and also enable the user to turn it on remotely from the vehicle before arriving home.