These Very Human Toyota Prius’s Are #CarsThatFeel

Over in Sydney, Australia, they’re celebrating the Vivid Festival this week. It’s a celebration of light, music and ideas. Contributing to the celebration, Toyota, working with Soap Creative, launched Cars That Feel, a physical installation of cars with which people can interact.

During the festival, three Toyota Prius’s were transformed into sentient beings complete with 6 BenQ projectors, Arduino controllers, LED lights and a custom application which gave the vehicles their interactive capabilities.

As people passed by the cars, messages such as “Hug Me” or “kiss me”or “tickle me” would appear in the windows. When people did, the vehicles would react with thanks or giddy laughter or even ask that people take a selfie with them.

As to the strategy behind the stunt, a Toyota spokesman said, “Each of the interactive Prius hybrids at Vivid will allow festival patrons to explore a possible future relationship between people and cars — a future that embodies Toyota’s ‘fun to drive’ philosophy.” And, it would seem, the day when we interact with our vehicles the way we currently interact with people.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/97191170[/vimeo]

Of course, people were encouraged to share their experiences on social media with the hashtag #CarsThatFeel. And many did.

Attention everyone: You need to come to @VividSydney – this festival is awesome! #carsthatfeel pic.twitter.com/9OfeGQRuyk

— Peter the Prius (@PeterthePrius) June 4, 2014

Does my bumper look big in this? #carsthatfeel #vividsydney pic.twitter.com/wG7F9BLL1Z

— Vicky the Prius v (@VickythePriusv) June 4, 2014