TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Toyota FV2 concept empathises with driver

If you are looking for a shoulder to cry on in 2030, it’s just possible you may be able to turn to your car.

Toyota has on display at the Tokyo motor show this year an odd-looking vehicle it thinks might be just the sort of thing we will be driving 25 years from now.

Aimed at people born since the 1990s who have lived with smart phones and high-speed Internet all their lives, the Fun Vehicle 2 (FV2) has no steering wheel and no foot pedals, finding its way around merely by responding to the driver’s body movements.

Driver's don't appear to sit in the vehicle either, instead riding the FV2 somewhat like a horse.

Not only that, Toyota says it also uses visual recognition to respond to the driver’s moods and physical condition – although exactly how it does so is not mentioned in Toyota’s press material on the FV2.

But the car does adapt to things like the owner’s driving skills, and is capable of suggesting destinations based on driving history while communicating not just with passengers but also with nearby motorists and pedestrians.

The possibilities are fascinating.

And the windscreen shows more than what you normally get thanks to an "augmented reality" display on the windscreen. Toyota says this technology "supplements sensory information from the user's environment with computer-generated data." Presumably that means some sort of advanced heads-up display.

The FV2 is also able to warn the driver of cars hidden in blind spots at intersections.

Styled by Toyota’s Calty Design Research Studio in California, the FV2's power source is not revealed – chiefly because it is not possible to predict what might be commonly used to drive vehicles in the 2030s.

Rumour has it the car accelerates the more Facebook likes it gets.