Toyota to Show Next-Gen Autonomous Research Vehicle

Toyota Research Institute will show its next-generation automated driving research vehicle that provides 360-degree awareness of about 650 feet around the vehicle at CES.

The Platform 3.0 vehicle is based on a Lexus LS, and will be shown on Jan. 9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Platform 3.0 arrives with an array of sensors. The Luminar LIDAR system provides 200 meter (656 feet) of range. It had tracked the forward direction on the previous test vehicles, and now covers a 360-degree perimeter that's enabled by four high-resolution scanning heads that detect objects in the environment including difficult-to-see dark objects.

Shorter-range LIDAR sensors are positioned low on four sides of the vehicle — one in each front quarter panel and one each on the front and rear bumpers. These can detect low-level and smaller objects near the car such as children and debris in the roadway.

Several of the new test vehicles will employ a dual cockpit control layout that TRI debuted in the summer so Toyota can test its Guardian approach to automated driving, which experiments with effective methods to transfer vehicle control between a human test driver and the automated system while maintaining a safety driver as a backup.

Toyota uses single cockpit vehicles like the one on display at CES to test Chauffeur, which is a fully autonomous platform.

Toyota will begin building additional vehicles in the spring at the company's research and development headquarters in York Township, Mich.