What is Arene?
Advanced connectivity, infotainment, autonomous driving and electrification systems are becoming increasingly complex. A vehicle’s connectivity is no longer limited to just a screen to play music from the mobile phone, but each system is related and interacts with each other. This is a big challenge for car companies and in order to make everything work harmoniously while offering more functionalities, more and more brands are choosing to develop their own operating system. Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are some of them, in which Toyota will now also participate.
According to the Japanese portal Nikkei, Toyota is working on its own operating system called Arene, which will also be used by Subaru as part of the alliance between the two companies. As expected, it will not be a simple infotainment system, but it will control all functions of the vehicle, from the multimedia system or navigation to the autonomous driving system and the performance of the electric motors. In a second phase, the software would also be available for purchase by other brands. As a first target, the Arene would be launched in 2025, coinciding with the electric advance planned by the Japanese company.
As we mentioned earlier, developing proprietary software is one of the main goals of other major automotive concerns. In the case of Volkswagen, it is working with Bosch on what will become its exclusive operating system “VW.OS”. Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are on the same path, in this case through a joint venture with the Chinese company Foxconn to unify all kinds of functions, from the voice assistant, navigation and infotainment to the paid services offered in the vehicles.
Everything seems to indicate that the very popular connectivity for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will be just one of the many capabilities that these new operating systems will add, without forgetting that they will also allow remote updates and interaction with other vehicles.
