The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has unveiled its 2.0 generation advanced safety research vehicle, which will be used to explore a full range of autonomous driving capabilities.
“This new advanced safety research vehicle is the first autonomous testing platform developed entirely by TRI and reflects the rapid progress of our autonomous driving program,” said TRI, CEO, Gill Pratt.
The system is computationally rich, and focused heavily on machine vision and machine learning. The layered and overlapping lidar, radar and camera sensor array reduce the need to depend too heavily on high-definition maps – especially for near-term systems, which will be designed for use in areas where such maps don’t yet exist.
The platform is the second generation of the advanced safety research vehicle built on a current generation Lexus LS 600hL, which features a robust drive-by-wire interface. The 2.0 is designed to be a flexible, plug-and-play test platform that can be upgraded continuously and often. Its technology stack will be used to develop both of TRI’s core research paths: the Chauffeur and Guardian systems.
March 15, 2017