Toyota reveals concept lunar rover with dreams to conquer Moon

Toyota is the largest car manufacturer on Earth. Has been for quite some time. But did you know that its ambitions aren't just restricted to our world and recently, the Japanese auto giant revealed a tiny concept lunar rover called Baby Lunar Cruiser with stated abilities to operate on all sorts of terrain.

The Toyota Baby Lunar Cruiser was revealed as part of celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Calty Design Research which is its North America-based design firm. Borrowing heavily from the FJ40 Land Cruiser, the Baby Lunar Cruiser looks part cute, part rugged with a bold splashing of ‘Toyota’ to let aliens know the dominant automotive force on planet Earth.

The Toyota Baby Lunar Cruiser sports airless tyres, in-wheel motors, a plethora of sensors and cameras, and a mammoth windshield area for a large viewing space from the cabin. And in the cabin, it gets an all-digital dashboard with augmented reality, adjustable spaceframe seats and dual joysticks for steering.

There is obviously no engine here - because finding a fuel station on a distant planet is likely to be an issue. Instead, the Baby Lunar Cruiser makes use of fuel cell technology and Toyota claims it can go a distance of 10,000 kilometres.

As mentioned earlier, the Toyota Baby Lunar Cruiser is just a concept at present and is more of an exercise to showcase what the future may hold. “BLC draws inspiration from the real Lunar Cruiser being developed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota," a company statement reads. But as with concepts, especially those that are meant for outer space, this one has created as much buzz as rover concepts from the likes of Hyundai and GM had previously.