Replete with Highway Teammate to secure and support you.
Japanese luxury marque Lexus has brought to the Tokyo motor show this, the LS+ concept, a full-size luxury limousine concept that it says previews a flagship model that will top the brands’ range when it comes about in the next decade. This is also the most significant step the company has made in the autonomous-driving direction too, as Lexus continues to work closer to achieving Level 4 autonomy across all driving situations in the near future.
The headlining feature on the LS+ concept is something called ‘Highway Teammate,’ the given name for what is Lexus’ most significant step toward the future of autonomous mobility. More of an advanced driver assistance (ADAS) system than anything else, the LS+’s Highway Teammate will be capable of handling a myriad of situations, even going as far as to be able to recognise when it’s coming onto or rolling off of a motorway ramp.
Highway Teammate will be able to recognise not only its entry and exit onto or off of a motorway, but it will also assist drivers with systems like lane-keeping aid, traffic merge and overtaking functionality, as well as the usual stuff like intelligent cruise control, collision warning, and autonomous emergency braking. While this is hardly new tech for a lot of carmakers (Volvo and Tesla are probably yawning in unison), Lexus boss Yoshihiro Sawa is confident that Highway Teammate will set a new benchmark in its application and “allow Lexus to deliver cars that can be driven even more safely and comfortably.”
Lexus, being a part of the larger Toyota conglomerate, takes a very cautious approach when it comes to the matter of autonomy, and Sawa stressed that at any time, the driver will be able to regain control from the autonomous driving system should it be required. The ultimate goal for Highway Teammate is to get Toyota’s autonomous initiatives further along, hoping to achieve Level 4 autonomy in urban areas “in the early 2020s.”
Interestingly (for Lexus), the LS+ concept also shows off a new “live update” system that allows the car and its systems to be kept up-to-date via over-the-air software upgrades, something that Tesla has been doing for some time. Though a wireless connection, the car will also be able to transmit data from its sensors live, ensuring that the artificial intelligence on board that controls the thing to learn the surface on which its driving.
The Lexus LS+ not only shows off the brands’ latest innovations in terms of design too, with the concept car showing off the latest interpretation of its trademark ‘Spindle Grill,’ which includes an active aerodynamics system that closes the gaps in the grill to improve the cars’ drag coefficient when it doesn’t need to cool itself, along with headlights replete with laser technology similar to the kind found in Audis and BMWs presently.
For more information on Lexus, check out our Showroom.
