Page 23 - ATD 07 October,2015

TECHNOLOGY A23
Wednesday 7 October 2015

Toyota shows self-driving technology being readied for 2020

YURI KAGEYAMA Dashboard panel of Toyota Motor Corp.’s automated driving test vehicle shows the vehicle detecting other vehicle during a test
AP Business Writer drive of Toyota’s self-driving technologies in Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015.
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota
unveiled its vision for self- Associated Press
driving cars in a challenge
to other automakers as bicyclists. Along with curb- ota city area and Tokyo. beeps. It is useful in alerting sors are installed in only 20
well as industry newcomer ing emissions with plug-in The system will be offered drivers to cars and pedestri- places, including 15 in Toy-
Google Inc., promising to hybrids and fuel cell vehi- as an option in three mod- ans popping out from blind ota’s headquarters area.
start selling such vehicles in cles, self-driving technolo- els going on sale in Japan spots. The plan is to expand that
Japan by 2020. gy is a focus of research for later this year, including the The technology can also to 50 places in Japan by
Toyota Motor Corp. dem- the auto industry. Both will Crown luxury model. be used for cars to com- spring 2016, according to
onstrated on a regular be highlighted in the up- Tests are starting in the U.S., municate with each other, Toyota.
Tokyo freeway Tuesday coming Tokyo Motor Show, but sales plans are not yet and fine-tune cruise con- Nissan has also demonstrat-
what it called the “mobil- which opens to the public decided. trol, so that the car in the ed car-detection technol-
ity teammate concept,” later this month. A vehicle equipped with back responds more quick- ogy on Yokohama roads,
meaning the driver and Google is also testing and that technology com- ly if two cars driving on the but using a different beam-
the artificial intelligence in refining self-driving tech- municates with sensory- same street are equipped ing technology. Toyota’s
a sensor-packed car work nology, putting pressure on transmission equipment at with this technology. new transmission system
together as a team. the auto industry to inno- street corners that detects Toyota officials said the uses a different standard
In the demonstration, a vate. Toyota demonstrat- oncoming cars, as well as technology has tremen- that will be open for use by
Lexus drove itself within the ed another futuristic auto- pedestrians, and warns the dous potential to reduce all automakers in Japan. In
60 kpm (37 mph) speed mated technology called vehicle through data trans- accidents, although it is un- Japan, accidents at inter-
limit for about 10 minutes, Intelligent Transportation mission. The warning ap- likely to have much of an sections account for about
changing lanes, braking System, which it has been pears as an image on the effect in the beginning be- 40 percent of all traffic
and steering. The human testing on roads in the Toy- dashboard, and the car cause the transmission sen- accidents.q
at the wheel did nothing
except turn on a button to
kick in the technology.
Toyota’s plans are part of
a larger Japanese govern-
ment initiative to pioneer
automated driving in time
for the 2020 Tokyo Olym-
pics.
It also marks a shift for Toy-
ota, which has been work-
ing on such technology
since the 1990s but with
great caution, warning
that the idea of a driverless
car was unrealistic, even
dangerous.
With the advancement of
sensors and telecommu-
nications, such technol-
ogy has been increasingly
catching on, particularly as
a safety measure in hard to
execute maneuvers such
as parking.
“Our goal is to offer the
freedom of movement to
everyone, including the
elderly and the disabled,”
said Chief Safety Technol-
ogy Officer Moritaka Yo-
shida.
But he acknowledged that
the technology was not
yet ready to be used on
roads with pedestrians and