Toyota

The all-new 2024 Tacoma lineup (which is adding a hybrid option) uses a portable Toyota-branded JBL “FLEX” device as a center speaker for the main audio system when docked away — and since two of those Toyota speakers can pair for stereo sound... all you need are two Tacomas.

Rivian’s all-electric R1T and R1S also have a removable Bluetooth Camp speaker / lamp that elegantly hides away, although future models could swap in a drawer instead.

Legacy car company trying a “Silicon Valley-style” software unit with impossible ambitions running into the cold hard reality of needing to actually ship working software? Nope, not VW: this time it’s Toyota, whose Woven Planet software subsidiary working on CES-style nonsense ideas has basically hit the rocks.

Toyota named the concept Arene, a kind of operating system for cars that was envisioned as making it possible for drivers to wirelessly download a wide array of upgrades, just like Tesla. Arene-powered vehicles would connect to a cloud network, gathering and sharing data among millions of vehicles, smart homes and city infrastructure. Developers outside of Toyota would be able to use it to design their own applications and services for cars, and Arene would be open for use by other automakers as well, in the manner of Android, the mobile operating system that runs on many brands of smartphone.

The companies are forming a joint venture that will provide Toyota-branded EVs to the autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai. The Level 4 vehicles can operate without a human at the wheel and will join the PonyPilot+ robotaxi network offered in China.

Last year, Pony.ai became the first autonomous car company with a taxi license in China. It has also been expanding its services throughout the country, and has started running its robotaxis without safety drivers in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Toyota is planning on building it for Subaru, right after it makes its own mid-sized electric SUV, which will be called bZ5X, according to Automotive News. Subaru’s only current EV, the compact Solterra SUV, was also made by Toyota, which owns a 20 percent stake in the Japanese automaker. Initial sales were halted for months because the wheels could fall off.

The new Prius looks a lot nicer but sounds downright evil when you back it up.