5 Features On The 2023 Toyota Prius Prime That Tech Enthusiasts Will Love

With electric vehicles and hybrids firmly entrenched in the public consciousness, the new name of the game is technological efficiency and superiority. Anyone can just make a hybrid nowadays, that's not inherently impressive anymore. The real showstoppers are the bells and whistles, the extra bits of technological muscle that both make a hybrid more pleasant and convenient to drive and provide additional value for the price (not to mention make hybrids and EVs as a whole more appealing to new adopters).

As one of the world's top automotive brands, Toyota knows a thing or two about what people want in a new vehicle, which is why the 2023 Toyota Prius Prime is outfitted with a variety of handy features and perks. As a hybrid vehicle, it's got some pretty great specs, getting 44 miles on its battery alone before switching to hybrid mode and cruising at a crispy 220 horsepower. Not only that, though, its technological boons are guaranteed to turn some heads.

It's honestly a wonder people were ever able to get anywhere before GPS navigation was a thing. Navigational systems, after all, provide live instructions, traffic updates, and safety recommendations to keep your trip as smooth as possible. The only downside is that GPS navigation is usually reliant on a smartphone with a steady wireless connection, which not everyone has.

Luckily, the Prius Prime's Cloud Navigation feature eliminates that concern from the equation. The car's infotainment system automatically downloads new maps, traffic updates, and route optimizations whenever it's in range of a wireless signal, ensuring you've always got the most up-to-date information, phone or not. Even if your connection drops, you can still navigate seamlessly with the most recent version of your saved map, and it'll update immediately when your connection returns, even if only for a little bit. Whether you're in the middle of nowhere or you forgot to charge your phone, you'll never be lost in a Prius Prime.

If you own a smartphone, it's pretty much a given that it's going to be on you whenever you leave the house. If you're already taking your phone into your car on a regular basis, you might as well use it to set up an additional layer of security for your car, making it harder for bad actors to break into it.

The Prius Prime is equipped with Toyota's Digital Key framework, allowing you to set up a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone with the Toyota mobile app installed as a secondary key for the car. Once you set your Digital Key up, you can have your car unlock the moment you bring your smartphone within Bluetooth connectivity distance. Or, alternatively, you can use the Unlock button in the Toyota app to unlock your car the same way you would with the buttons on your key fob. It's a handy feature to have, especially if you need to retrieve something from your car and can't quite remember where you left the keys.

When you're trying to carefully maneuver your car in a cramped situation, visual information is absolutely vital, and unfortunately, you can never quite seem to get enough information with just your eyes. This is why a lot of modern cars come with rear-view cameras to help you back into tight spots or avoid potential hazards, but that still only shows you what's directly behind you. To get the most possible information, you need a full 360-degree view.

Enter, the Prius Prime's Panoramic View Monitor. When your car is in moving view mode, a quartet of external cameras activates to scan your surroundings and provide a virtual mockup of the panoramic view from above your car. Utilizing this feature, you can see absolutely everything in your car's immediate vicinity as you pursue parking perfection, be it a bumpy curb or a rando staring at his phone as he walks off the sidewalk.

There's still a pretty definitive split between smartphone owners who prefer Apple versus Android ecosystems. Some cars are only compatible with one or the other, so for instance, if you're using an Apple iPhone, but your car only supports Android Auto, you're just out of luck. Thankfully, the Prius Prime doesn't need to make us choose how we connect.

The Prius Prime features support for both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, ensuring that you can connect your mobile device to your car no matter what the make and model is. Once your device is synced up, you can mirror its apps and display to access your favorite functions, such as your music, your saved maps, and your phone calls. Plus, once you've synced up your device for the first time, it'll automatically connect again whenever your Prius Prime is connected, saving you the effort of a manual connection.

No matter how advanced cars seem to get, we just can't seem to advance past the eternal hair-puller that is traffic jams. Traffic jams can be extremely stressful, forcing you to pay careful attention to the road's movement, even if nothing is actually happening for minutes on end. To help take some of the stress of a traffic jam off your shoulders, the Prius Prime has a helpful Traffic Jam Assist feature.

When you're stopping and starting in a jam, the Traffic Jam Assist kicks in, dialing back the car's operating speed to prevent accidental collisions and activating hands-free steering to keep you in your lane. As the jam starts moving again, bright notifications chime in to get you out of the slow lane mindset and ready to drive properly again. In the event of a collision or crash, an optional in-cabin camera activates to serve as proof of your attentive driving, which could prove invaluable for insurance purposes.