Toyota executives say the company's primary focus is on safety. At least for the time being, that means the company won't pursue development of a driverless car.

Speaking at the company's advanced safety seminar in Ypsilanti, MI, Thursday morning, Seigo Kuzumaki, Toyota's deputy chief safety technology officer, said that Toyota envisions a future driving environment that optimizes the best of both humans and computers, not choosing one over the other.

"Toyota's main objective is safety, so it will not be developing a driverless car," he said.

While other companies like, say, Google, anticipate a driverless car future, Kuzumaki and other Toyota executives said they're not sold on the fact driverless cars will be a marketable product to a wide base of consumers. Even if motorists were eager to accept such a hands-off driving approach, they're not sure the technology is ready.

"At this moment, it is difficult to realize the driverless car safely," said Ken Koibuchi, head of Toyota's intelligent vehicle division. "To realize driverless car at this moment, we need a very rich infrastructure."

The company said it is involved in 34 different projects with 17 partners, some of which are examining development of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. At least for now, they believe the future holds a collaborative driving experience between humans and computers, one that means drivers won't necessarily be tending to other tasks in their vehicles anytime soon.

"I think Toyota's approach is opposite of that," said Kristen Tabar, a vice president at Toyota's Technical Center. She later added that humans and computers both have weaknesses. They can augment each other; but not make one obsolete.

"The human being is the ultimate in sensor fusion," she said. "We have the visual, audible advantage, all the different inputs to make the best judgments moving forward."

"The human being is the ultimate in sensor fusion," she said. "We have the visual, audible advantage, all the different inputs to make the best judgments moving forward."

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (September 4, 2014) – It’s not science fiction anymore. Toyota is putting the future of auto safety technology on display, including environment-mapping systems that can track objects on the road both day and night, 3D information displays that transform the ability to provide road information to drivers, and an advanced driving support system that will be available to U.S. customers in the mid-decade.

All these and more were shown today at the fourth annual Toyota Advanced Safety Seminar (TASS), convened in Ann Arbor, Michigan ahead of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress next week. The seminar provides an advance look into Toyota’s safety research and development, spotlighting the company’s work to help ensure the safe transition to the future of mobility.

“Toyota’s vision is of a world without traffic fatalities, and these advanced connected and automated vehicle technologies hold the potential to revolutionize automotive safety,” said Seigo Kuzumaki, Chief Safety Technology Officer Secretary for Toyota Motor Corporation. “We are committed to bringing advanced active safety systems to market as quickly as possible and will make them accessible to a broad range of drivers.”

In addition to demonstrating safety research underway at the Collaborative Safety Research Center and updating the public on development progress of fully autonomous vehicles that can operate at high speeds and in inclement weather, Toyota executives revealed the status of several advanced automated driving technologies.

Although Toyota did not release details on which Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles will be first to get the new tech and when, it aims to outfit the entire product lineup by 2017. Toyota and Scion vehicles may feature the high-tech anti-collision systems featured on Lexus vehicles, along with other elements of Lexus' safety technology.

A Pre-Collision system is offered on such vehicles as the 2015 Lexus RX 350.

"We'll begin the rollout in 2015," the automaker announced at the start of a three-day Advanced Safety Seminar being held to showcase the latest in automotive safety technology.

Otherwise, active drivers need to understand that safety, traffic laws, and road sharing are essential to the driving experience.

Google applied to get a license for car without steering wheel last month but they were denied by DMV.