Toyota today introduced its new autonomous concept vehicle, the e-Palette... and it looks a lot like other autonomous vehicles, specifically mini-autonomous buses by Easymile and Navya (pictured below).

Toyota's is even bigger than the other ones, probably because it's designed to accommodate other uses, such as carrying cargo and being a mobile showroom.

It's too early to tell, but it is promising, daresay indicative that such giant carmakers like VW (see MOIA) and Toyota are not fixating on mass car ownership as the future, but rather shared rides, micro-transit and corporate car ownership. (Compare to Tesla, with its 1950s aesthetic of a car in every garage, powered by a solar panel on a detached suburban single-family house).

This sector is still in its infancy, but should start to pick up around 2020-2021. The case for autonomous transit is compelling for many reasons - it's easier because it only needs to work on a given route, and eliminating the biggest cost of transit, labor, means you can run buses at a higher frequency with quieter, smaller vehicles. And of course you can divide vehicle costs over 10 people.