Like all major automakers, Toyota has been developing and researching active safety and semi-autonomous driving systems for a number of years, yet until now, it didn't like to talk about it.
However, on Tuesday the company made its first public demonstration of its Highway Teammate technology which essentially takes over driving duties under highway driving conditions, but then hands the controls back to a flesh-and-blood driver when in other situations - hence the name.
The specially adapted Lexus GS, which took to Tokyo's Shuto Expressway, is capable of maintaining lane discipline, of merging onto and exiting the freeway and has the processing power and smarts to make decisions about the best course of action - be it slow down, stay in lane or perform an overtaking maneuver.
Toyota is aiming to bring a form of this technology to its real-world production vehicles before 2020, the year that Tokyo plays host to the Olympic Games. And it's by no means the only Japanese company working to make an automotive statement in time for the world's greatest amateur sporting event.
Robot Taxis, a joint venture between DeNA Co and ZMP Inc, is hoping to start testing an autonomous car in Kanagawa from March that will be able to chauffeur tourists to and from the Olympic stadium in time for the opening ceremony.
In Europe, development of autonomous driving technologies is well underway and October has already seen two self-driving world firsts. On Friday, a Mercedes-Benz Actros became the first autonomous truck to take to the public highway, driving along the A8 between Denkendorf and Stuttgart airport. "[This] is a further important step towards the market maturity of autonomously driving trucks - and towards the safe, sustainable road freight transport of the future," said company board member Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard of the feat.
While in neighbouring France on the same day, a prototype car developed by Peugeot Citroen traveled the 580km between Paris and Bordeaux without human assistance, becoming one of the longest autonomous drives in Europe and the first self-driving car ever to take to French roads.
