Archive for April, 2009
If you can’t say it in 140 characters, it’ll have to go in the blog
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 30, 2009 in Uncategorized
We started our @Toyota_Europe activity on Twitter in February this year, with some hopes and some trepidation (or is there already a word “tweetidation” meaning nervousness about the response to your tweet?) After the establishment of this blog, this is the next of our steps to try to engage with people who are interested in Toyota in Europe.
The first use of Twitter, is to let interested people (called followers) follow what we have to say. So our tweets include references to press releases or activities that are going on around Toyota.
I currently run the software called Tweetdeck on the second screen on my PC, which now has a continuous stream of tweets running down it. It actually reminds me a little of the digital rain in the movie The Matrix. One of the streams shows me all of the tweets that are being sent that mention Toyota. This is the second use of Twitter. By keeping an eye on this it is possible to see when people have questions or concerns about us, and when possible, we can respond directly to them.
As a reader of this blog, you may already be following us on Twitter, if not, you can find us @Toyota_Europe. I really hope to see you there, and have a chance to tweet together!
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Comments(0)Taking a long drive and wishing we were “there already!”
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 15, 2009 in Safety
I feel a little guilty as I have just skipped a week on the blog, because I was away on holiday. We went to Italy to enjoy some spring skiing. This meant a return trip of almost 2000km experiencing driving conditions in 5 different countries*.
It was actually quite an eye-opener to see how different driving styles are from country to country, though I won’t get into any of the details here, at the risk of damaging international relations. However, as I sped (figuratively not literally, of course) down the highways, through the toll-booths, and we wove up the mountains I really started to wish that we had already implemented some of the systems that are parts of Toyota’s Integrated Safety Management Concept.
Long drives can be tiring and even a small lapse of attention can increase the risk of an accident, so I particularly like the work that is assists driving by linking to the navigation system. We must have entered and exited 20 different highways, and passed through dozens of villages as we went along. It would have been a great help to have the car give me some tips and warnings as I went along. But that’s for the future, if you are interested in more future technologies have a look at TMC’s terrific website which explains all about the things that are being developed at Toyota for the future.
* (Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland and Italy)
Feeling technologically challenged? - these kids aren’t…
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 02, 2009 in Uncategorized
I grew up as science loving son of a science teacher & electrical engineer. Unsurprisingly, I am always happy to see projects or activities that help to instil enthusiasm for science into school kids. A really nice example of this is the Toyota Technology Challenge which is aimed at 11-16 year olds in the UK. It is funded by Toyota Fund for Europe, and run by TMUK in collaboration with Rapid.
There are two categories in the challenge. One is building a solar powered car, the other a car with a microcontroller enabling it to detect and avoid obstacles. You can see all of the details in the link above, but the basic idea is this:
• The team registers to participate
• A kit with everything they need to make the vehicle is sent to them
• They produce a folder all about their planned vehicle and submit it (Feb)
• Folder judging – best entries invited to one of 7 regional finals (April)
• At the regionals the folders are presented and vehicles race
• Winners are invited to national final at TMUK (16 May)
• More presentations and racing to find the champions!
This is the 5th year this has been run as a national challenge. Each year they receive about 400 registrations and typically about a quarter will actually submit their entry folder. The first of the regional finals will be held next week in Scotland, so good luck to all of the teams, and watch this space to find out who is successful.
These will be the engineers and scientists of the next decades, developing the technologies and products that we will need to ensure we have a sustainable future. So it’s really important that we get as many students as possible involved in this type of activity, and celebrate their enthusiasm.
