Japanese automaker Toyota is “exploring rockets,” chairman Akio Toyoda simply introduced on stage at CES 2025, whereas hinting on the concept of transferring folks by area.
Toyoda didn’t provide any particulars explaining what he meant. But he confirmed a rendering on stage of a rocket designed by Interstellar Technologies, a personal Japanese spaceflight firm that’s engaged on a small launch automobile made to place satellites into area.
Toyoda was in the midst of explaining how he views his firm’s myriad applied sciences as “invention by kakezan,” or “invention by multiplication.”
“When it involves what’s potential whenever you work collectively, the sky’s the restrict,” he mentioned. After a dramatic pause, he continued: “And talking of the sky, we’re exploring rockets, too. Because the way forward for mobility shouldn’t be restricted to only Earth, or only one automobile firm” — a potential dig at Tesla.
Spaceflight is a wild concept to tease on the finish of a press convention, although a transfer like this has some priority. Sony surprise-announced it was engaged on an electrical automobile 5 years in the past at CES and barely gave the information various minutes of stage time.
Toyota, in the meantime, has been lambasted for years for its overly cautious stance on growing electrical automobiles. Not solely does that now seem like a prescient transfer as huge automakers reduce their formidable plans for electrification, perhaps Toyota merely had its eyes on a a lot totally different prize — area.
