Toyota launches its own social network to chat with ... cars!

It became known that Toyota Motor Corp and cloud computing company Salesforce.com Inc are going to launch a social network service that will help the car owner with their cars. The system will remind the car owners about the maintenance checks and other things.  

"Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication…The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation," commented Toyota President Akio Toyoda.   

Each car will have its own profile. It was said that in the new social network which will be called "Toyota Friend", the owners will be enabled to “talk” to their Toyotas like they do with their friends on Twitter or Facebook. 

The service will be based on Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform.   

Firstly the system will be offered in Japan with Toyota's first battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars.  The first launch is expected the next year.