Over 65% of Australia receives no mobile phone signal, making the outback one of the most dangerous mobile black-spots in the world.
So we turned Australia’s most popular 4x4s, Toyota LandCruisers, into a roving communications network, by creating a simple, inexpensive, signal-providing device with up to 25km range. Together these devices create a store-and-forward network of emergency signal that anyone can access using an ordinary mobile phone.
LandCruiser Emergency Network (L.EN.) launched in August 2015, with a successful, ongoing community pilot in 50,000 km2 of remote Outback South Australia.
Thousands of messages have been successfully tested.
Government agencies, NGO’s and Emergency Services around Australasia have sought involvement with the project, with the aim of using L.E.N. devices in emergency responses.
Toyota’s Product Planning Department is currently exploring distribution and integration of L.E.N. into LandCruisers in Australia and around the world.
We are currently in discussions with local government in the remote Kimberley Ranges in Western Australia to further expand L.E.N. into 60 vehicles in an area including the Canning Stock Route (one of the most dangerous and remote roads in the world stretching 1,850km).
The LandCruiser Emergency Network has successfully brought a means of communication to people who previously had little ways of communicating with the outside world in times of emergency.