Toyota gives
a sneak preview of its self-drive car
Toyota has shown its self-drive car safety
technology. The car maker revealed a video of a Lexus with safety features designed
to minimise car crashes. The technology includes on-board radar and video cameras,
and the car can communicate with other vehicles.
The video shows a prototype Lexus LS fitted
with "Intelligent Transport Systems" (ITS) technology. The
"advanced active safety research vehicle" prototype uses ITS and
existing Toyota technology to monitor whether the driver is awake, to keep the
car on the road, detect the positions of pedestrians and obstacles and to stop
at traffic signals. The car can even communicate
with a driver's smartphone, for example, to let the car know about upcoming places
of interest.
Toyota is one of several car manufacturers
and technology companies researching autonomous vehicles. Google was awarded an
autonomous car patent in 2011 and has secured a Nevada driving licence for its
self-drive car. Volvo also tested a self-drive convoy on a Spanish motorway.
Self-driving cars could drastically improve
road safety, according to Professor Paul Newman, who heads an Oxford University
autonomous car project, and explains that car systems can be engineered so that
a systems failure will not result in a crash. Prof Newman's Wildcat project
aims to use lasers and radar to make a car "sense" its surroundings.
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