Toyota debuts new software system in revamped RAV4

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota unveiled its latest RAV4 on Wednesday and said the compact sport utility vehicle would be its first model to feature its Arene software development platform.

"The RAV4 marks a start in our journey in building software-defined vehicles," Simon Humphries, Toyota's chief branding officer, said.

In the new RAV4, the platform has helped with the development of software powering the new multimedia system's cockpit voice agent and centre display, as well as advanced safety technologies.

Launched in 1994, the RAV4 has become one of Toyota's most popular models worldwide, with more than a million vehicles sold last year.

Toyota plans to launch the sixth-generation RAV4 in North America, Japan and Europe in the current business year to end-March 2026. It will also have variants with hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. The plug-in hybrid vehicles will have a battery-only range of 150 km (93 miles).

Toyota is considering producing the latest version of the vehicle in the United States instead of an earlier plan to export from Japan and Canada, people familiar with the matter have said, rethinking its supply chains to lessen the hit from U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles.

The current version of the RAV4 is made in Kentucky, Japan and Canada.

Toyota said at the time it had nothing to announce.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)