Top Car

January 2016 |TOPCAR.CO.ZA 99THEIRONYISsimply too rich to ignore. Toyota won’t let ushapless South African journos loose on the streets of Tokyo inits cars, and I can almost empathise. This frenzied metropoliscan 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 28was conducted insafe isolation on the handling circuit of Fuji Speedw ay inOyama. Yet here we were circumnavigating Tokyo along the C1 highwayina modified Lexus GS which has been allowed to drive itself. At thenationalspeed limit of 110kph. Artificial Intelligence 1.South African Intelligence 0.SOUNDS OFSILENCENot the engine of course, that’s a 3.5 litr e V6. I mean thesilence from the driver. And again, here I don’t refer toUesugiSato shi, the man behind the clearly-alive steeringwheel. I refer to the Lexus GS that has shot up an onramponto the circular highway, successfully merged itselfwiththe moving traffic, and is now cruising comfortably intheleftlane circa 90kph. A gap opens inthe lane to my right,the fast lane or overtaking la ne – whatever you choo se tocallit, the GS ‘felt’it was worth pursuing so without anyprovocation from us lowly humans proceeded to indi cate,then gl ide right on into it. The GS then swelled withacceleration until it was confidently stra ddling the 110kphspeed limit, and remained there. I was a mixed bag, acornucopia of emotions. I’m a sci-fi nerd, I want arobotised version of everything I own, and this was adisplay so fascinating that even Doc Brown wouldappreciate it. Yet I’llbe hone st and admit that the questionringing inmy mind at this moment was ‘Is th is thing notfreaking out?’ Anxiety. We never wonder what theartificial equivalent of it is, but I know that the act ofchecking 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. Asifto sh ow off, a moment later, while sandwiched between a truck andanother blind on-ramp a small ut ility truck ham-fisted ly entered themotorway causing our GS to brake to a safe speed, manoeuvre into theclear lane to the right and effortlessly overtake the offending driver be foremerging ba ck into the leftlane. Ifthe GS had a ro botic hand I think we allknew which digit it would extend at this moment.``````HOWDOESITWORK?Take one look at the self -drivingLexu s GS and it’s pretty clear thatit is not a standard car. Insteadit has been heavily augmentedwith bulky sensors. Also, this isa pre-programmed rout e, usin gextensive GPSknowledgealthoughthe fundamentals arein pl ace for it to function assimply as your na vigation system.Insert destination here.Naturally,it uses the wealth of Toyota’sexisting on-board technology,the advanced recognition andpredictiv e decision-makingfunctions suchas lane control,emergency brak ing and wrapsit al l up into its ConnectedIntelligence system, that’s vehicle-to-vehicle communication, nowrecently bolstered by vehicle-to-infr astructure communication.``````The latter is part of an initia tivecalled ITS Connect, essentiallysensors and cameras mountedto traffic intersections able tocheck blindspots on your behalf,and equipped to communicatewith your car so as to alert youif you’re ab out to plough intopreviously undetectable oncomingtraffic. Sound good? It’s alreadybeen on the market in Japanformonths... As for the autonomousbit, Toyota says 2020is whollyfeasible. Hey, don’t stress. I’m apetrolhe ad too. So I don’t want usto lose the joy of motoring either.But I too can see a future wherethe mind -numbing tasks of peakhour traffic and long distan cehighway cruising can be left toThe Computer. Just make sure toreactivate me when we get to themountain pass, thanks.Does itwork?The ghostin the shellbyCalvinFisherToyota’s autonomoustechnology will hauntme forever