Toyota is working on safety technology that assumes control of the steering so that the vehicle can turn away when it isn’t able stop before a collision.
According to the Associated Press, Toyota Motor Corp. presented a few of the safety features it’s developing to reporters Thursday at its facility near Mount Fuji.
Car makers all over the world are currently developing innovative safety technology as a way to snag customers. Competition in the auto market among carmakers is already intense; the safety features could be a competitive advantage.
Cars that automatically stop or slow down in front of an object or person before a crash are nothing new. Although Toyota’s new pre-collision system has a feature that controls steering.
Toyota uses cameras and a powerful radar dubbed “millimeter-wave” in their new safety system. The components are both embedded in the front of the vehicle to monitor possible crashed like a pedestrian crossing the road.
The vehicle computes the way that braking and steering must be used to avoid a crash, said chief safety technology officer Moritaka Yoshida.
“We must learn from accidents and keep making improvements in safety features,” he said.
Toyota did not say when this feature will be offered on their cars, they only hinted that it would be soon.
The Japanese automaker said that it was shooting for zero fatalities and injuries, but again they did not say when that would be achieved.
Deaths have been decreasing in auto accidents due to safety features; however deaths among pedestrians in auto accidents have not decreased in Japan.
Toyota says that protecting pedestrians is becoming more of a focus; this makes the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models.
They displayed what is known as a pop-up hood, which rises somewhat during a crash. It lessens the impact of a pedestrian getting hit by a car. It’s a lot like the features European automakers offer.
It also demonstrated how sections of the rays from high-beam headlights could be blocked so that drivers would still be able to see what was ahead while the headlights would look like they are on low beam to the driver coming from the other direction.
Toyota also has a steering wheel in development that watches the heartbeat of the driver to stop crashes that may happen due to the driver having a heart attack.
Sadly that’s how the Macho Man Randy Savage died.
