January 2016 |TOPCAR.CO.ZA 99T
HEIRONYISsimply too rich to ignore. Toyota won’t let us
hapless South African journos loose on the streets of Tokyo in
its cars, and I can almost empathise. This frenzied metropolis
can be a daunti ng driving venue for the uninitiated , which iswhy all the mileage we did inthe new Toyota Prius and Mirai on pa ge 28
was conducted insafe isolation on the handling circuit of Fuji Speedw ay in
Oyama. Yet here we were circumnavigating Tokyo along the C1 highway
ina modified Lexus GS which has been allowed to drive itself. At the
nationalspeed limit of 110kph. Artificial Intelligence 1.
South African Intelligence 0.
SOUNDS OFSILENCE
Not the engine of course, that’s a 3.5 litr e V6. I mean the
silence from the driver. And again, here I don’t refer to
UesugiSato shi, the man behind the clearly-alive steering
wheel. I refer to the Lexus GS that has shot up an onramp
onto the circular highway, successfully merged itselfwith
the moving traffic, and is now cruising comfortably inthe
leftlane circa 90kph. A gap opens inthe lane to my right,
the fast lane or overtaking la ne – whatever you choo se to
callit, the GS ‘felt’it was worth pursuing so without any
provocation from us lowly humans proceeded to indi cate,
then gl ide right on into it. The GS then swelled with
acceleration until it was confidently stra ddling the 110kph
speed limit, and remained there. I was a mixed bag, a
cornucopia of emotions. I’m a sci-fi nerd, I want a
robotised version of everything I own, and this was a
display so fascinating that even Doc Brown would
appreciate it. Yet I’llbe hone st and admit that the question
ringing inmy mind at this moment was ‘Is th is thing not
freaking out?’ Anxiety. We never wonder what the
artificial equivalent of it is, but I know that the act of
checking for a safe gap can be stressful and yet this unfeeling slice of near-
sentience was ab le to performthe task without any sortof hesitation. Asif
to sh ow off, a moment later, while sandwiched between a truck and
another blind on-ramp a small ut ility truck ham-fisted ly entered the
motorway causing our GS to brake to a safe speed, manoeuvre into the
clear lane to the right and effortlessly overtake the offending driver be fore
merging ba ck into the leftlane. Ifthe GS had a ro botic hand I think we all
knew which digit it would extend at this moment.HOWDOESITWORK?
Take one look at the self -driving
Lexu s GS and it’s pretty clear that
it is not a standard car. Instead
it has been heavily augmented
with bulky sensors. Also, this is
a pre-programmed rout e, usin g
extensive GPSknowledge
althoughthe fundamentals are
in pl ace for it to function as
simply as your na vigation system.
Insert destination here.Naturally,
it uses the wealth of Toyota’s
existing on-board technology,
the advanced recognition and
predictiv e decision-making
functions suchas lane control,
emergency brak ing and wraps
it al l up into its Connected
Intelligence system, that’s vehicle-
to-vehicle communication, now
recently bolstered by vehicle-to-
infr astructure communication.The latter is part of an initia tive
called ITS Connect, essentially
sensors and cameras mounted
to traffic intersections able to
check blindspots on your behalf,
and equipped to communicate
with your car so as to alert you
if you’re ab out to plough into
previously undetectable oncoming
traffic. Sound good? It’s already
been on the market in Japanfor
months... As for the autonomous
bit, Toyota says 2020is wholly
feasible. Hey, don’t stress. I’m a
petrolhe ad too. So I don’t want us
to lose the joy of motoring either.
But I too can see a future where
the mind -numbing tasks of peak
hour traffic and long distan ce
highway cruising can be left to
The Computer. Just make sure to
reactivate me when we get to the
mountain pass, thanks.Does it
work?
The ghost
in the shell
byCalvinFisher
Toyota’s autonomous
technology will haunt
me forever