Toyota, Japan’s biggest auto maker, has unveiled an emergency safety system – an ‘accelerator suppression function” – that makes use of big data to ignore the accelerator if a driver unintentionally steps on the pedal. This safety feature will be implemented in new cars from the Toyota Company this summer, beginning in Japan.
The system was built to reduce accidents, especially when the driver mistakes the accelerator for the brake. According to records, in 2018, 15% of fatal accidents on Japanese roads were caused by these mistakes, which occurred among drivers who were above 75 years.
This year Toyota is sponsoring the Tokyo Olympics with exclusive mobility where the exhibition of self-driving, e-palette transportation pods, would be carrying athletes around the Olympics village at low speed.
Competitors, Honda, plans to launch a new car capable of full autonomy in highway traffic scenes and Nissan released the second generation of its pro-pilot driver-assist system, offering hands-free operations for single highway driving.
Toyota evolved from using automated emergency braking and lane departure alert in its first-generation Safety Sense package in 2015, to assisted single-lane highway driving, making the car capable of recognising pedestrians at night and bicycles, in 2018.
The development of its new safety-feature entails using data collected from internet-connected cars it has on the road. The uniqueness of this new feature is that it does not need the presence of an obstacle to work.
*Source: Reuters