Toyota Announces Improved Safety Technologies

AUTO CENTRAL – July 25, 2011: Toyota Motor Corporation has unveiled technologies aimed at increasing road safety, particularly for pedestrians and elderly drivers.

The new technologies are in response to alarming data about the growing proportion of pedestrians and older people who are killed in traffic accidents as well as the high incidence of night-time fatalities.

Designed to reduce accidents, injury and death, the systems include:

Collision avoidance using millimetre-wave radar, stereo cameras and infra-red beams,

Glare-preventing adaptive headlights,

A pop-up bonnet designed to lessen pedestrian injury, and

Preventing accidents caused by sudden changes in a driver's physical condition, such as a heart attack.

National road tolls have fallen in the past decade in countries like Japan and Australia, but pedestrians and the elderly remain vulnerable.

Japan's National Police Agency says pedestrians now account for a higher proportion of the road toll than people inside vehicles (2010 figures).

It says people aged 65 or over comprise more than half the number of traffic deaths (50.4 per cent).

Despite fewer cars being on the road at night, almost half of all road deaths (49.3 per cent) occur between sunset and sunrise.

In response, Toyota says it is aiming to develop vehicles that are less likely to be involved in accidents through the use of an advanced pre-collision system.

While existing technologies can predict crashes and reduce damage, the system under development is designed to help avoid accidents.

The system uses millimetre-wave radar and stereo cameras to detect pedestrians and vehicles in front of the car. It also emits near-infrared beams to enhance visibility at night.

Another safety technology being developed is glare-preventing adaptive headlights that partially shield the headlight's high beam to prevent blinding other drivers.

Known as the Adaptive Driving Beam, it also improves night-time visibility by maintaining illumination as close as possible to high-beam intensity.

Toyota's newly developed pop-up bonnet helps reduce pedestrian head injury during a collision.

The system automatically raises the rear of the bonnet, providing more space between a pedestrian's body and engine-bay components.

Toyota is also conducting research aimed at commercialising a system that can help prevent major accidents caused when a driver suddenly suffers a heart attack or other serious physical conditions.

This emergency-response technology involves detecting risk by monitoring cardiovascular functions through the driver's grasp of the steering wheels.