With an autonomous driving story that hearkens back to 2005, at its technical center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the automaker's work quickly turned into its first 2006 patents, Toyota has come a long way to 2017. As of 2016 and a report by Thomson Reuters's Intellectual Property and Science division, Toyota holds some pretty telling field patents, and the March 3, 2017 Prius Challenge at Sonoma Raceway showed us a few fruits of the manufacturer's labor, in the form of Toyota Research Institute's (TRI) new, advanced safety research vehicle, developed on a new, second-generation Lexus LS 600Hl-based platform.
WATCH: Reporter @strngwys shares his experience as a participant in the #PriusChallenge at Sonoma Raceway: https://t.co/6e0yipQ6n7 pic.twitter.com/MNgmRhWBfD
— TRI (@ToyotaResearch) March 7, 2017
One can clearly see Toyota's desire to make the vehicles of its future both plug-and-play and flexible enough for frequent and continuous upgrade, as an expanded multilevel LIDAR, radar and camera trifecta accompanies geo-fencing capable Chauffeur and high-level driver assist Guardian autonomous tech designed to make an already smart vehicle even smarter over time. Toyota's intent here is to explore the full gamut of implications for autonomous driving, looking to improve machine vision and learning in order to reduce reliance on high-definition maps and make its vehicles models of go-anywhere mobility.
Toyota intends to work the aforementioned systems into its Lexus and Toyota offerings over time, and the automaker's Automatic Emergency Braking system will start to come standard-fare on most U.S. models and trims by the end of 2017. Stand by for more exciting developments in the field of emerging autonomous driving tech. In the meantime, get the road intelligence experience for yourself with a test drive in one of our eco-friendly 2016 or 2017 Toyota Prius models. Stop by our Streamwood, IL showroom from Schaumburg, St. Charles or Arlington Heights today!
