Toyota and Audi AG announced this week that they will be showcasing and demonstrating autonomous-driving vehicles at the Consumer Electronics Show this month. Toyota confirmed the news in a press release issued this week.
In a sneak-preview video uploaded on the Toyota website this week, the company showed a Lexus model fitted with a number of different sensors and cameras which allowed the vehicle to drive by itself. The video included a caption which reads ""Lexus advanced active safety research vehicle is leading the industry into a new automated era."
The Toyota vehicle is a Lexus LS 600h, but it is more commonly known as the AASRV within the company, which stands for Advanced Active Safety Research according to Toyota. Like the self-driving vehicle that Google has been working on since 2009, the Toyota model includes features that allow the vehicle to driver its way around on city roads, detect traffic lights and is aware of other cars on the road according to The Wall Street Journal.
"To have somebody with the weight of Toyota throwing their weight behind this is impressive," said Dave Sullivan of AutoPacific Inc to The Wall Street Journal. "Toyota has already been spotted testing an autonomous vehicle near its Ann Arbor, Mich., engineering campus.
Google has used many Toyota vehicles in the past, including one to test their autonomous capabilities, but Toyota has already confirmed the technology they created for their own autonomous vehicle wasn't a result of the partnership. They've been adamant that each company has been developing their own driving systems separately according to The Wall Street Journal.
The press release also mentioned that Audi plans on revealing an autonomous vehicle at the Las Vegas show as well. The car will include features like find a parking space and parking itself without a driver behind the wheel according to Audi.
Google's driverless car has logged over 300,000 miles on test tracks as they continue to work on releasing the first driverless vehicle to the public.
Click here to read more about Google's vehicle.
The Toyota and Audi vehicles will be shown on display at the 2013 International CES conference going on from Jan. 8 - 11.
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