Toyota’s Guardian aims to boost driving safety

By Aaron Ye
BU News Service

LAS VEGAS – Reaching its 82nd year on the road, Toyota presented its big idea “mobility for all,” revealing a vision for the next 30 years at CES on Jan.7.

Toyota has paved its way toward vehicle electrification in the next few decades. More than 60 percent of electric vehicles in the U.S. were powered either by Toyota or Lexus. Toyota had sold more than 13 million electric vehicles by 2018, said Bob Carter, Executive Vice President of Toyota.

“We still have a very long way to go,” said Carter.

In 2018, more than 95 percent of all cars sold across the globe were powered exclusively by fossil fuels. Toyota says its number one goal is to reduce vehicle emissions and to build cars with better AI technologies.

By 2020, Toyota is aiming to have electrified vehicles total 15 percent of its sales in the U.S. And by 2030, Toyota intends to sell approximately 5.5 million electrifiled vehicles per year, including one million zero-emission cars.

“We know it’s not enough just to bring new electrified vehicles to the market,” said Carter. “That’s why we have our Toyota 2050 environmental challenge.”

The aim of the Toyota 2050 environmental challenge is to have a net positive impact on the environment with six major goals to be accomplished.

These accomplishments include the complete elimination of greenhouse gas emission from Toyota’s internal operations, a 90 percent reduction of gas emission from vehicles, optimization of water usage, and the establishment of a recycling-based system.

To achieve its goals, Toyota launched the Toyota USA Foundation in 2018, supporting startup companies that are focused on mobility, driver/passenger safety, STEM education and environmental sustainability.

This year, Toyota introduced its new system, Toyota Guardian, aiming to boost driver safety.

“It’s not discrete on and off switch between either the human and machine,” said Gill Pratt, CEO of Toyota Research Institute. “But rather it’s a seamless blend of both human and machine working together as teammates and we expect the best skills from each one. “

The Toyota Guardian system uses camera sensors embedded in vehicles that can anticipate accidents and alert the driver of dangerous situations.

Toyota has implemented the Guardian system in its newest test vehicle, the Toyota TRI-P4 Research model. The design of the TRI-P4 is based on the Lexus 500h.

Pratt envisioned that in the future that the Guardian system would not only be used in Toyota’s vehicles, but all vehicles on the road.

“We think that the important benefit of automated driving is not actually about autonomous cars. It’s about the autonomy of people,” said Pratt. “And that is a good guardian for all.”