The latest Toyota system like others under development is designed to prevent collisions when automatic braking alone is not sufficient.
In Japan, this morning Toyota Motor said it has developed a collision avoidance system that uses automatic steering in addition to increased braking force and automatic braking to help prevent accidents with pedestrians. This is just the latest development on the road to a fully autonomous car, which will require no input from the driver to operate it.
The basic technology needed for autonomous vehicles is now in luxury cars as automatic driver aids, but it will take decades for fully autonomous vehicles to clog roads. Even then, the growth is hindered by legal requirements in many countries saying all vehicles must have a driver in control at all times.
Some U.S. states and European countries have begun issuing licenses for companies to allow testing of autonomous driving features on public highways under strictly controlled conditions. However, before full autonomous driving becomes available, liability issues must be resolved.
The latest Toyota system like others under development is designed to prevent collisions in cases where automatic braking alone is not sufficient, such as when the vehicle is traveling too fast or a pedestrian suddenly steps into the vehicle’s path. An on-board sensor detects pedestrians and issues a visual alert when there is a risk of collision. If the likelihood of a collision increases, the system issues an audio and visual alarm to encourage the driver to take evasive action, and the increased pre-collision braking force and automatic braking functions are activated. If the system calculates a collision cannot be avoided by braking alone and there is sufficient room for avoidance, steer assist is activated to steer the vehicle away from the pedestrian.
While the number of traffic fatalities in congested Japan has declined for 12 consecutive years, reaching 4,411 in 2012. However, of that total, pedestrian fatalities are the most common, accounting for 37%.
Last year, Toyota developed a system that uses increased pre-collision braking force and automatic braking to help prevent collisions with pedestrians. The system, in production on the Lexus LS lineup, warns the driver when it detects a potential collision with a pedestrian or obstacle. If the driver does not take action to avoid the collision, the system activates.
Toyota said it will continue to expand a less sophisticated version of pedestrian-avoidance without automatic steering by making it more affordable on a wider range of vehicles other than the top of the line LS by 2015.
