LAS VEGAS: Toyota has announced plans to offer its driver assist system Guardian to other car manufacturers.
It's an unusual move for a car company, as they normally try and keep all their cards close to their chest.
Speaking at CES here, Toyota's manager Gill Pratt did not name any conditions for other companies using Guardian, and also did not say if Toyota was already in talks with other manufacturers.
Whereas many car companies have been focusing on developing automated driving technology, Toyota has been investing heavily in its Guardian programme, which is designed to help the driver as much as possible with artificial intelligence.
Pratt explained how Guardian works by showing an accident which happened to a Toyota test vehicle: The car had several sensors and was being driven by a human on a road in the US, when another car drove into its back and pushed it onto the barrier. Due to the many sensors, the company was able to collect masses of data from the accident.
When the company re-enacted the accident after further developing Guardian, it found that the driver assist system was able to detect the other car coming and accelerate enough in time so that the accident did not happen again.
Toyota also presented a new test vehicle for developing driver assisted cars and robot cars.
