YPSILANTI, Mich. — Your car soon will do more to help avoid a crash. As for one day leaving all the driving to the vehicle while you relax in back, dont get your hopes up.
Thats the message from safety executives at Toyota, who on Thursday promised by 2017 to have collision-prevention technology installed across its U.S. line-up, in both mainstream and luxury vehicles.
But for now at least, every vehicle the company designs and builds will require someone in the driver seat.
Toyota expects by mid-decade to roll out a next generation of safety systems in the U.S. that allow cars to steer themselves enough to stay in the centre of a lane. And to keep the driver focused on the task at hand — driving — the cars will also feature a camera that monitors the drivers eyes and makes sure that hands are on the steering wheel. If the eyes drift off the road or hands come off the wheel, the car would issue a warning.
In other words, a full-time back-seat driver, Ken Koibuchi, general manager of Toyotas intelligent vehicle division, said at Thursdays briefing.
Several other automakers already have lane-steering technology and driver monitoring systems, but often theyre only available in higher-cost or luxury models.
Toyotas system might eventually have the ability to warn you if your freeway lane is going away, or merging traffic could hit your car. That technology is still being developed and is limited by mapping data nationwide, the safety executives said at a safety briefing near Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The company sees a gradual shift toward cars doing most of the driving work, with each increment helping people to gain trust in the automated systems.
Toyota says the industry is more than a decade away from making a car that could drive itself, due to technology limitations and legal issues. And unlike Google, Toyota doesnt see the day wher a human wont be needed behind the wheel.
Toyota will not be developing a driverless car, said Seigo Kuzumaki, the companys deputy chief safety technology officer. Humans still will be needed to handle situations that cant be anticipated by a computer, Toyota executives said.
Toyota and other automakers already have radar-activated cruise control that keeps a safe distance from other traffic and can even stop the car when needed if the driver doesnt react. The next-generation Toyota system will have more sensitive radar that can see farther and react faster.
Toyota plans to put collision-prevention systems on all cars in its U.S. model lineup by 2017. The systems are likely to include the radar-activated cruise control, although Toyota said details will be released at a later time. The radar system now is available as an option on Lexus and six Toyota models.
Toyotas safety briefing came ahead of next weeks Intelligent Transportation Society of America World Congress in Detroit, wher many automakers and parts suppliers plan to show off new safety technology.
