{"id":132536,"date":"2019-01-08T11:31:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=132536"},"modified":"2019-01-08T12:17:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T17:17:00","slug":"toyota-wants-to-share-potentially-breakthrough-safety-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/01\/toyota-wants-to-share-potentially-breakthrough-safety-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota Wants to Share Potentially Breakthrough Safety Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Toyota's tech chief Gil Pratt is talking with other automakers about using the company's Guardian technology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While tires may blow out and steering systems might fail, drivers are responsible for at least 90% of all motor vehicle accidents, according to federal data. But what if a vehicle can be equipped with a digital safety system that is constantly watching what the human driver does, ready to step in to correct a potentially dangerous mistake?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the idea behind the Guardian technology Toyota aims to have ready for production by early in the coming decade. Unlike autonomous, or even semi-autonomous driving systems, Guardian isn\u2019t meant to replace the driver but simply wait on vigilant standby, ready to step in and reduce the risk of a crash.<\/p>\n

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CES News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toyota is so confident about the strategy it has been meeting with competitors to see if they might be interested in using Guardian on their own vehicles, Gil Pratt, head of the Toyota Research Institute, announced during an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The idea behind Guardian is \u201camplifying, rather than replacing\u201d the human driver, Pratt explained, adding that the technology is not only meant to improve safety but that it also \u201ccan make it more fun to drive\u201d by helping a motorist maneuver around tight corners, for one thing.<\/p>\n

(Toyota introducing new automated test vehicle in Las Vegas. <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There already are a number of advanced driving assistance systems, or ADAS technologies, meant to prevent driver errors, such as blind-spot detection and forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking. And the industry is working on full hands-off systems that will essentially take control of the vehicle entirely.<\/p>\n

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Toyota's Guardian system waits in the background then activates to help drivers navigate hazards more quickly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guardian takes a different approach Pratt explained during a roundtable meeting with reporters. While it shares many of the same radar, camera and other sensors used by ADAS and autonomous systems, the new Toyota technology is designed to operate in the background where it constantly observes what the driver is doing, as well.<\/p>\n

Guardian, Pratt explained, \u201cis not a discrete on\/off switch,\u201d like auto-braking systems, \u201cbut a seamless blend of man and machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key difference between Guardian and other digital safety technologies is that it is constantly watching not only what\u2019s happening on the road but also what the driver is doing. It can tell if a motorist is drowsy or distracted, and it can then \u201ccorrect the mistakes of the human,\u201d added Ryan Eustice, Toyota\u2019s director of Automated Driving.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for more about TDB\u2019s first drive in the 2019 Toyota Prius AWD.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japanese automaker offered several illustrations of how Guardian could work. In one, it stepped in to help a driver maneuver through a construction site. With the system off, the driver hit several cones. With it on, the car safely avoided all the obstacles.<\/p>\n

Another video captured a real-world crash involving one of Toyota\u2019s autonomous research vehicles, another driver setting off a multi-vehicle collision when he swerved out of his lane. In a computer simulation of that incident, Guardian was able to detect the situation before the driver, accelerating out of harm\u2019s way automatically.<\/p>\n

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The Guardian system is designed to blend man and machine to improve safety.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t guarantee there\u2019ll be no crash,\u201d stressed Pratt. \u201cIt\u2019s not a miracle. But, in many, many cases \u2026 the system knows how to drive better than the human.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of offering breakthrough technology to competitors is rare but not unique. Volvo encouraged the rest of the industry to adopt its original seatbelt concept, for example. More recently, Tesla opened up a number of its patents for competitors to use, CEO Elon Musk explaining that it would help increase demand for electric vehicles and, in the process, help boost Tesla sales.<\/p>\n

(To see more\u00a0about the new 2020 Toyota Corolla,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pratt wouldn\u2019t say whom Toyota is talking to, though he did note that it has met with \u201ca number\u201d of other companies about sharing Guardian. Toyota is still trying to work up a strategy for such an approach which could mean licensing the system or possibly selling competitors a black box solution. Whatever approach it settles on, Guardian isn\u2019t expected to be ready for production until early in the coming decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toyota is offering a new approach to automotive safety it calls Guardian. The technology uses advanced driver assistance services as a support to the person behind the wheel rather than in place of. The idea, according to Toyota’s tech guru Gil Pratt, is to blend man and machine. Find out more about this new technology in the works at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,8,5,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[111],"post-state":[],"category_old":[149,150,151,313,123,274,299,132,125,137,312,291,206,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132536"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=132536"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=132536"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=132536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}