Toyota's Touting Its Self Driving Car Tech at CES 2018
The Toyota Research Institute will display a new self-driving research vehicle at CES 2018 next week.
The research vehicle, which is based on a Lexus LS 600hL, uses the latest in TRI’s self-driving hardware and software and attempts to neatly integrate into the vehicle’s design. The system has been dubbed Platform 3.0 and comprises a Luminar LIDAR system with a 200-meter range and a 360-degree perimeter, along with other shorter-range LIDAR sensors. TRI also tapped Toyota’s CALTY design studio to design clean-looking, non-obtrusive sensor panels, allowing the research vehicle to look as inconspicuous as possible.
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“Our team has once again rapidly advanced our automated vehicle research capabilities,” said TRI CEO Dr. Gill Pratt. “To elevate our test platform to a new level, we tapped Toyota’s design and engineering expertise to create an all-new test platform that has the potential to be a benchmark in function and style.”
With this research vehicle, Toyota is working toward having an autonomous car that is a “pacesetter” among automated research vehicles but also neatly blends the sensing equipment into the vehicle’s design. It also eventually wants to get the package to a point where it can be easily reproduced for fleets on a mass scale. The automaker will soon set to work building a handful of Platform 3.0-equipped Lexus LS vehicles for testing purposes, but it’s not clear when they might hit public streets.
We’ll learn more about this new autonomous test vehicle at CES next week.
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Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
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