Toyota to debut next-gen autonomous research vehicle
Built on a Lexus LS 600hL, the new platform, says the organization, combines greater technological capabilities while offering a new harmonized styling that integrates the automated vehicle technology into the LS model’s design. According to TRI, the new test platform was created to have the potential to be “a benchmark in function and style.”
TRI says it developed the new research platform with three core principles in mind:
- To elevate the platform’s perception capabilities to be that of an industry pacesetter among automated vehicles
- To blend the sensing equipment into the vehicle design with a distinct appearance that is sleek and elegant
- To package the automated vehicle technology in a manner that is easy to reproduce for building a fleet at scale.
Platform 3.0’s Luminar LiDAR system with 200-meter range – which had only tracked the forward direction on the company’s previous test platform – now covers the vehicle’s complete 360-degree perimeter. This is achieved using four high-resolution LiDAR scanning heads that precisely detect objects in the environment, including difficult-to-see dark objects.
Shorter-range LiDAR sensors are positioned low on all four sides of the vehicle – one in each front quarter panel, and one each on the front and rear bumpers. These are able to detect low-level and smaller objects near the car – like children or debris in the roadway.
To compact and conceal the sensors and cameras, a new rooftop weather and temperature-proof panel was created that used available space in the sunroof compartment to minimize the overall height. This design, says TRI, eliminates the look of equipment as bolt-on appendages and replaces the “spinning bucket” LiDAR sensor typically seen on autonomous test vehicles.
The vehicle’s computational architecture, which had previously taken up nearly all trunk space, has also been consolidated. Instead, the electronics infrastructure and wiring is condensed into a small box adorned with an LED-lit TRI logo.
Production of Platform 3.0 vehicles is planned to begin this spring. Platform 3.0 cars will be created from stock Lexus LS models by the Prototype Development Center at Toyota Motor North America Research R&D headquarters (York Township, MI), which has expertise in low volume, specialized production.
Production volume is intentionally low, says TRI, because it anticipates continued rapid developments in the test platform and wants to allow for continued flexibility. Some of the new test vehicles will be assembled with a dual cockpit control layout – for experimenting with effective methods to transfer vehicle control between a human test driver and the automated system – while single-cockpit vehicles, such as the one to be on display at CES, will be used to test TRI’s approach to full vehicle automation.
Related articles:
Toyota to spend $1 billion on AI and robotics R&D center
Toyota: Human-centric approach through AI
Toyota looks to ‘taxi of the future’
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
