Presenting the Lexus Autonomous Test Vehicle (Photos)

1. Toyota Research Institute

What you see above is the newest iteration by Lexus in their search to crack the proverbial autonomous driving nut. Toyota looked at their lineup of cars and decided that the LS600hL was the perfect car for the endeavor and set about shoving in everything save for the kitchen sink in order to get as much tech onboard as possible so the car can keep itself out of trouble. This car is the first developed entirely in-house by Toyota Research Institute (T.R.I.) and uses artificial intelligence to learn how to drive, based on behavior it sees around it on the road. A word of advice to Lexus by us folks in California is to keep it far away from Los Angeles unless you are prepared for a car that will mow down pedestrians as it texts "LOL". 

>>Join the conversation about the Autonomous Test Vehicle right here in our ClubLexus forum.

2. The Protector

The special LS600 uses lidar, radar, and optical sensors all over the car to cut back on the reliance mapping, which many other cars are using for lane assist and safety spacing during cruise control driving. The Lexus is the newest iteration of the vehicle that was last demonstrated back in 2013 at the Consumer Electronics Show. The biggest difference between that older version and this new one, are the two pillars of tech that Lexus refers to as Guardian and Chauffeur, which are put in the forefront as benchmark goals. Guardian mode refers to improved safety features that will aid a driver who becomes distracted or sleepy at the wheel, while Chauffeur mode is full human-not-needed autonomy.

>>Join the conversation about the Autonomous Test Vehicle right here in our ClubLexus forum.

3. Tricked Out

This is the very first vehicle built entirely by T.R.I. to achieve certain technological goals like Guardian and Chauffeur. To help Toyota along with their research, they included things like a drive by wire interface and a system that is fairly modular, meaning that the car can learn and improve on the move when upgrades are made to individual parts that are changed out. 

>>Join the conversation about the Autonomous Test Vehicle right here in our ClubLexus forum.

4. Big Brains at Work

This Lexus LS600 vehicle is part of a giant, billion dollar investment that Toyota announced back in 2015, for the Toyota Research Institute to develop AI tech. The headquarters of this project are situated near Stanford University in California, with satellite facilities in places like MIT in Massachusetts, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

>>Join the conversation about the Autonomous Test Vehicle right here in our ClubLexus forum.

5. Where Are We Heading?

All this tech can be a bit daunting to wrap your head around, but if you'd like a clue into why Lexus has been so gung-ho on moving tech forward, it is because of a boast they made in 2015. Back then the company claimed that they really believed, by the year 2020, that they could completely erase the need for a human driver at the helm. 

What I want to know is, how do you guys feel about full autonomous Lexus driving? Do you look forward to it as a way to gain some time to yourself and be more productive on your commute? Or, do you lament the loss of driving as for a new generation of children who will never know the thrill of blasting down a back road, feeling one with the machine? 

>>Join the conversation about the Autonomous Test Vehicle right here in our ClubLexus forum.

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