Toyota will offer demonstration rides with its Level
4 automated-driving test vehicle on public roads in Tokyo, Japan, starting next
summer. The ‘P4 test vehicle’ as Toyota calls it, is based on the fifth-gen
Lexus LS and has already been tested at a close-course test facility in Ottawa
Lake, Michigan. Toyota will continue the development of the P4’s software on
the public roads in Odaiba, Tokyo and around Toyota Research Institute’s Ann
Arbor and Los Altos research offices.
The rides will be offered from July to September
2020, with Toyota demonstrating the P4’s “Chauffeur” SAE Level-4 capabilities.
The P4 experience will take place in Tokyo’s Odaiba district, which features a
complex environment of pedestrians, traffic, diverse road infrastructure and
tall glass buildings.
The public will be invited to register their
interest, and the company will select who will participate. The P4 test vehicle
will also come with a safety driver sitting behind the wheel, in accordance
with Japanese law.
The P4 test vehicle was first unveiled at the 2019
CES and acts as the platform for the development of both the “Toyota Guardian”
active safety features and the “Chauffeur” automated-driving technology.
