Toyota to turn Mobility Teammate concept into reality by 2020

Toyota has pledged to make its Mobility Teammate concept a reality by 2020. The Japanese manufacturer announced during the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux yesterday that it has been testing a new automated driving vehicle – called Highway Teammate - in Japan and planned to bring products based on it to market in the next five years. The new vehicle, a Lexus GS which has been modified for autonomous driving, has been tested on a section of highway in Tokyo, changing lanes and entering and exiting at junctions
October 6, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

1686 Toyota has pledged to make its Mobility Teammate concept a reality by 2020. The Japanese manufacturer announced during the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux yesterday that it has been testing a new automated driving vehicle – called Highway Teammate - in Japan and planned to bring products based on it to market in the next five years.

The new vehicle, a Lexus GS which has been modified for autonomous driving, has been tested on a section of highway in Tokyo, changing lanes and entering and exiting at junctions without help from the driver.

Mobility Teammate is based on the idea that interactions between drivers and cars should “share the same purpose, like close friends who sometimes watch over each other and sometimes help each other out”. Toyota has been active in this area since the 1990s, but the announcement this week suggests that the company will now be pumping resources into research and development, with Toyota saying it wants to achieve a society where “mobility means safety, efficiency and freedom”.

A spokeswoman added that Mobility Teammate could be important for older people especially – a theme that was touched on at the opening of the Congress this week by Violeta Bulc, EC commissioner for mobility and transport. Like Japan, Europe has an ageing population which would benefit from autonomous driving and connected vehicles, she said, since it would give older people who might not otherwise be able to use cars an opportunity for an extended social life.

Bulc also warned that the ingenuity of companies such as Toyota will not be sufficient by itself to ensure widespread uptake of driverless cars. “The intelligence of vehicles will not be enough – we need intelligent infrastructure,” she said.

Related Content

  • March 3, 2020
    Ertico is looking east: here’s why
    The first Central Eastern Congress on ITS is to be held in Russia in September. Jacob Bangsgaard, CEO of Ertico – ITS Europe, tells Adam Hill why the event is necessary – and what visitors can expect
    Read More
  • August 7, 2018
    Motown morphs into Mobility City
    Detroit was once a byword for urban decay – but ITS America recently held its annual meeting there. This gave David Arminas a chance to assess how fast Motor City is moving down the road to recovery. Motor City, as Detroit is still called, was on its financial knees only five short years ago. The future looked bleak as the city and greater urban area bled jobs and population. It was on 18 July 2013 that Motown, as Detroit is also known, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, the
    Read More
  • November 28, 2013
    Roadside infrastructure key to in-vehicle deployment
    The implementation of in-vehicle systems will require multilateral cooperation, as Honda’s Sue Bai explains to Colin Sowman. Vehicle manufacturers will shape the future direction of in-vehicle ITS systems, but they can’t do it on their own. So to find out what they see on the horizon, and the obstacles they face, ITS International spoke to Sue Bai, principal engineer in the Automobile Technology Research Department with Honda R&D Americas. Not only does she play an important role in Honda’s US-based ITS
    Read More
  • October 27, 2016
    The downside of driverless vehicles
    Driverless cars will have a detrimental effect on congestion and security while the road safety benefits can be achieved sooner and cheaper using ADAS, argues Colin Sowman. Many Governments are consulting about the introduction of driverless vehicles and even running trials. As 70% or 80% of crashes are caused by human error, the promise of a crash-free future of driverless, self-driving or autonomous vehicles (call them what you will) is alluring, as are the claims of reduced congestion and lower emissions
    Read More

Highlighted Content