A blog devoted to RANTS ON AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN, car reviews, and - above all - fugly autos. whether looking for vehicular plagiarism or rides of extreme tastelessness, you've come to the right place.


Saturday, February 06, 2010

Toyota Pod


This symmetic 2001 concept was Toyota's attempt at animating the inanimate. Beside looking like an overly cut pillbug, the Toyota sported such innovative features as the ability to portray emotion, and an antennae that wags like a tail when happy.

How does a car portray emotions you ask? Well - basically the car lights up on the outside in different colours depending on it's mood, so the whole world can see what your car is feeling. Not sure why it displays this on the outside - seems like this information would be a bit more useful to the driver.


Basically the car lights up orange when happy, red when angry and blue when sad. It takes cues from the driver to choose the appropriate emotion. For example, if you drive aggressively, it's angry. Not sure what driving style would elicit a sad response though. Attempting to drive off a bridge?

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