New Toyota Sienna Owner’s Manual is an AI Assistant
Say goodbye to the printed owner's manual
Toyota is kicking off the owner’s manual revolution. The all-new Sienna minivan will not come with a printed owner’s manual. It won’t even be accessible as a PDF on your phone. Instead, owners get “Joya,” a voice-activated virtual assistant powered by Google Cloud and included in the Toyota Driver’s Companion — a component of the official Toyota App.
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Instead of having a thick manual taking space in your glovebox that you might pull out once every other month, you can use the space for more relevant day-to-day items and use your phone to answer any questions you may have about your car.
Using Google-powered artificial intelligence technology, Joya is capable of answering all of the same questions as a regular owner’s manual — and thanks to her ability to understand natural speech and personalized questions, getting those answers may be a lot faster. If you ask “What is the height of my car?” Joya can answer via voice, display, or interactive input.
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Toyota Driver’s Companion can do a whole lot more than just answer questions about your Sienna, though. It can educate you about smart safety features, help you locate button controls, set up personal driving settings, tell you the ideal pressure before you inflate your tires, and even let you know why your check engine light came on.
“Our Sienna customers lead multi-faceted lives, which is why we are constantly looking for ways to simplify even the most basic tasks. We understand that even trying to determine what ‘that button’ does can be a daunting question to answer during a busy week,” said Joe Moses, general manager, Toyota Vehicle Marketing and Communications.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.