Automobile manufacturers and technology development teams are busy coming up with safety innovations that aim to make the roads far less dangerous. Toyota is one such company, and they have unveiled a host of systems that might revolutionize safety on the roads near your home.
Perhaps the most important revelation is the unveiling of something called the Intelligent Transport System Proving Ground. Toyota has taken over nine acres in Japan so that they can test a system that involves technologies placed along the road actually communicating with the safety mechanisms placed on the vehicle itself. The vehicle and the environment are meant to interact wirelessly to put together a map of the road that includes signals, automobiles, pedestrians, and other hazards. The hope is that the technology can warn a driver of potential dangers and even take over if the person behind the wheel doesn’t react accordingly.
Toyota also hopes to be able to implement something called an Intelligence Clearance Sonar. This technology is meant to make up for obstacles that a driver might not take into account while they drive. By emitting an alarm, cutting the gas, or hitting the brakes, the vehicle can eliminate danger further. And a pre-collision system being developed aims to cut down on crashes related to a driver not stopping in time when a leading vehicle hits the brakes.
These innovations and others like them could be the beginning of a veritable safety revolution, so here’s hoping the kinks can be worked out and citizens can be kept safe from auto accidents.