Tokyo 2015: Meet The Coms Connect By Toyota Auto Body, The Car With Transformer Aspirations

We said aspirations, not ability – so unfortunately the Coms Connect does not actually transform. Toyota Auto Body, the car’s intrepid creators, no doubt did knock the idea around, most likely. Perhaps, they figured their name was fairly close to the word ‘Autobot’ that they could pull it off. 

The Coms Connect was envisioned to be a personal people mover for the rapidly changing landscapes of business, lifestyle, and even urban planning. We're pretty sure the designers took inspiration from the anime Robotech (Anyone remember that? Hashtag nostalgia.) or something similiar. 

While the car stops short of transforming to the ‘ROID’ or ‘WALKER’ modes that the action figure shows (in the gallery above), the car apparently will allow modes called ‘delivery’, ‘personal’, and ‘tandem’. These are to “meet the various needs of different vehicle users” – we have no idea what they actually do.

As you can see, the Coms Connect’s design is dominated by the central pod that seats the driver, its canopy wrapping around the occupant and integrates with the swing doors for ease of access.

It is powered by a lithium-ion battery that’s mounted behind the driver and is driven by four in-wheel motors. The driver controls the car via joystick, interestingly.

Unlike a couple of the other Toyota Auto Body creations that we spied at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, we would sincerely like to see the Coms Connect being used in towns for people to get around easily, quietly, and with zero environmental impact. And if by then it does transform, that’s even better.