New myToyota Connect system falls short of Tesla tech

Toyota admits it can’t compete with Tesla for tech and connected services – and it comes down to the architecture underpinning the new myToyota Connect system that’s fitted as standard in the new 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross small SUV.

Australia’s top-selling auto brand today announced its new remote connectivity system, which allows the operation and monitoring of basic vehicle functions from a smartphone app, but Toyota conceded that Tesla still has an advantage in terms of speed of communication and the number of features it offers via a phone app.

“We cannot… compete with Tesla from a [system] response perspective,” a Toyota Australia senior product manager told carsales.

Whereas Tesla’s app responds within an instant to commands from the smartphone app, the Toyota app can take five seconds or longer to elicit a response from the car, making for a laggy user experience.

This is despite the fact myToyota Connect uses the same Telstra GSM mobile phone network as Tesla, although CEO Elon Musk has previously said the US EV-maker would in future employ the satellite network of its Starlink sister company.

However, myToyota Connect does allow basic functions, bringing Toyota to a similar level as rivals such as Ford, which offers a similar connectivity system for vehicles including the new Ranger and Everest.

“We’ve done a teardown of the Tesla… Tesla always comes out on top,” said the Toyota executive. “That’s because of the advantage from a technological point of view. They built their cars as technology devices.”

The full functionality of the new myToyota Connect app is only available on the Corolla Cross for now, but it will soon make its way to the regular Corolla before filtering through to other Toyota models over coming years (some vehicles, including the LandCruiser 300 Series, HiLux and Camry can access a limited number of features, but not the full suite).

myToyota Connect allows owners to lock and unlock doors, check the location of the vehicle, activate some lights, beep the horn and check the status of the vehicle, including the remaining fuel range and odometer reading.

Owners can also remotely start the engine to run the ventilation – but only for less than 10 minutes to save asphyxiating someone if the car is parked in a garage (even the hybrid models require the petrol engine to be running to operate the ventilation when parked).

It can also log the previous 10 trips, even ranking drivers according to their driving smoothness and eco-friendliness. Plus it can monitor drivers for speed, location and time of driving, alerting the owner if any pre-set parameters are broken.

Other than the last couple of features, Tesla matches all those features, although its EVs don’t present concerns about fumes in carparks when the ventilation is activated.

The Tesla app can also activate additional features such as the Sentry monitoring mode and live reading of tyre pressures.

Despite the blingy new app, Toyota says it has no plans to replace traditional car keys with phone connectivity, as was pioneered by Tesla and has since been partly employed by Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Tesla.

Toyota says the company is not ready to make such a change yet, instead relying on traditional keys to activate what it says is “the most technologically advanced vehicle Toyota has ever produced”.

“The [myToyota Connect] technology is not ready for it,” said the Toyota product executive.

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