14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet of Things is upon us and more and more devices are becoming interconnected, including home appliances. Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation have decided to team up and develop a service linking cars with devices at home.
According to the announcement, the service is going to be launched sometime later this year. It will enable users to control Panasonic home appliances via an app installed on Toyota cars.
The data is being transmitted from the car to the Toyota Smart Center and from there on leaves towards the Panasonic Cloud before it reaches the device you want to control remotely.
“We’ve all had those ‘oh-no’ moments after leaving home: the washing machine not switched on, the TV not set to record tonight’s movie, the air conditioning not primed to cool the house down ready for your return. Toyota and Panasonic are working together on a new cloud-based telematics service that will make life easier and less stressful by letting people keep tabs on and operate their home appliances from the wheel of their car,” reads the official announcement, explaining in part why the two signed up for this agreement.
The technology will actually be presented by Toyota at the Smart Community Japan 2014 exhibition organized in Tokyo later this month.
The concept is part of a larger effort “to make mobility smarter, more convenient and more comfortable,” which will, in turn, increase the value cars can add to a person’s life.
The Toyota Smart Center is already used by drivers to connect with each other, their cars and homes everywhere in the world.
Toyota and Panasonic have been working together for the past year, during which time they’ve developed a series of telematics services linking cars and home appliances.
The Internet of Things is a growing industry and predictions indicate that billions of devices will become connected to the Internet in the coming years.
GFI Software recently released the findings of an independent research project indicating that network administrators are afraid of the security issues that are about to hit when there are even more devices online that aren’t necessarily well protected against attacks that could jeopardize entire computer networks.
“Developers will have to design ‘smart’ devices that are also secure, not only as a standalone device but as a part of a wider connected environment. This may call for a rethink in how they code and approach security on a connected device,” Sergio Galindo, general manager of the infrastructure business unit at GFI Software, told Softpedia.