Toyota Advanced Drive is a statement that the manufacturer has made safety a key priority to achieve its objective of no traffic deaths, and it is developing safety and automated driving technologies to provide unlimited mobility to everyone. Toyota will re-examine what consumers consider to be genuine safety and true convenience, and will tie the findings of its investigations to people’s pleasure.

Collaborative driving for greater safety

The Mobility Teammate Idea is a Toyota-only automated driving concept that aims to improve communication between drivers and automobiles, allowing them to reach out to each other for mutual assistance and enabling coordinated driving comparable to that of close friends.

Rather than automobiles taking over driving and replacing humans, drivers and cars work together to protect one another, allowing drivers to enjoy the experience of driving while sometimes deferring to automated driving, resulting in genuinely safe, secure, and unfettered mobility.

Grades equipped with Advanced Drive, a new function of Toyota/Lexus Teammate, the state-of-the-art driving aid system created based on this idea, are available in the new LS and Mirai ranges. The new LS was released in April 2021, as was the new Mirai.

With the goal of ensuring that drivers stay at the center of attention as technology advances, the driver and the automobile affirm each other’s status via conversing, resulting in safe driving and enjoyable mobility.

Toyota Advanced Drive at a glance

Intelligent, Reliable, Perceptive, Interactive, and Upgradeable are the five technical features of Advanced Drive.

The goal is to produce automated driving that drivers can trust by making judgments with the greatest focus on safety at all times, including care for other drivers, and attaining natural and smooth driving that is comparable to that of a human.

Deep learning-based AI technology is used to predict different circumstances that may arise while driving and to aid drivers with their answers.

When danger is predicted, whether in the surrounding environment or in the driver’s health, the system issues a warning, and the driver may make a choice or define system operation based on the system’s recommendation. The goal is to provide driving assistance that builds trust between the driver and the vehicle via two-way communication.

Furthermore, Advanced Drive makes use of software upgrades to allow functionalities to be added and modified after the vehicle has been delivered to the client, boosting ease and delivering the most up-to-date technology. Toyota will gather driving data in Japan, including outside picture data, and send it to a secure data server.

They may utilize vehicle performance data collected and analyzed under continually changing circumstances as a reference for future development of sophisticated safety and mapping technologies. When this data is gathered and processed, the privacy and security of the drivers and persons recorded on video are taken into account.

The function of Advanced Drive

When driving on an expressway or other motor-vehicle-only route, Advanced Drive is the technology that supports you. The on-board technology will suitably identify the circumstances, make judgments, and help drive under the driver’s supervision based on real traffic conditions if the destination is selected in the navigation system.

It can keep the car in its lane, maintain a safe distance from other vehicles, manage a lane split, change lanes, and overtake other vehicles until the vehicle leaves the road to reach its destination.

The driver is relieved of control of the accelerator, brakes, and steering, which reduces tiredness and allows the driver to pay better attention to the surroundings for safe driving. In a variety of situations, such as around bends, in crowded traffic, and while passing by cars, the feature delivers natural and smooth driving.

Driver assistance system focuses on keeping you safe

Personalized assistance based on driving circumstances. When driving alongside or passing another vehicle in the area, the vehicle must stay in its lane and provide enough room to the left and right. When passing a huge, broad car, for example, circumstances that might generate anxiety due to the close proximity of the vehicles are avoided by driving to the other side.

Other merging cars will be taken into account. At merge junctions, the spacing between cars moving into the main lane is maintained by decelerating early, allowing additional vehicles to join smoothly.

Passing and changing lanes. When the system judges that a lane change is feasible based on neighboring cars’ status and road circumstances, the driver maintains control of the steering wheel, verifies the destination lane, and accepts the move to allow autonomous lane shifting. The driver may also use the turn lever to request a lane change from the system.

Monitor camera for the driver. The system detects the driver’s state using a driver monitor camera, which includes which direction the driver is looking, whether the eyes are open or closed, the line of sight, and driving posture. A warning is sent if the system detects that the motorist is looking to the side or has his or her eyes closed.

The device aids safe lane changes by evaluating the driver’s safety confirmation behavior. A buzzer sounds, the seat belt vibrates, the heads-up display flashes, and a care guide app engages in conversation with the driver if the system detects indications of tiredness or judges that the driver’s participation in driving is beginning to wane.

Prevention systems

Braking in an emergency. The new system, in addition to the millimeter-wave radar and stereo camera used in previous systems, combines data from a telescopic camera, LiDAR, and high-precision maps to detect preceding vehicles in the same lane at a greater distance than the previous Pre-collision Safety system, assisting the driver in evasive action.

If the system detects the danger of a collision, it alerts the driver with a color meter or color heads-up display and a buzzer, and if the chance of a collision is high, substantial braking force is applied and the driver’s evasive maneuver is aided.

Emergency response system for drivers. If the driver’s driving posture collapses or if the driver fails to respond to system warnings, the system determines that continuing to drive would be difficult and gradually decelerates while warning others in the area by activating the hazard lights and bringing the vehicle to a stop in the lane or on the shoulder.

After the car comes to a halt, the system opens the doors and instantly contacts HELPNET, assisting in the driver’s speedy rescue.

The vehicles evolve continuously to offer top-tier assistance

Updates to software. Software (control software and high-precision mapping software) is updated at a dealer, either remotely or over a connection. Even after a car has been purchased, new functions may be added and existing functions can be improved, ensuring that a safe and secure vehicle is maintained by delivering state-of-the-art driving aid technology.

Hardware that is cutting-edge. As a foundation for software upgrades, Advanced Drive is supplied with cutting-edge hardware with excellent performance in perception, arithmetic processing, and dependability (or redundancy), among other areas. The hardware incorporates the most up-to-date safety features, allowing drivers to operate their cars in a safe and secure way.

The functions of the new Lexus LS with Advanced Drive and the new Toyota Mirai with Advanced Drive will be the same.