The Japanese manufacturer Toyota announced that it is developing and testing a revolutionary driver assistance system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to actively prevent traffic accidents, NHK reports.
The company has created the necessary communication infrastructure in close cooperation with telecommunications giant NTT. The first real tests of the new technology were recently conducted at a research center located in central Japan.
During the experiments, the test car was driven on an expressway. The system worked by analyzing the location and speed of other vehicles in real time. For this purpose, sensors and cameras installed both on the road and in the car were used.
Environmental data was instantly processed by artificial intelligence and transmitted to the car's on-board device, which automatically adjusted the speed and trajectory of movement. The goal is for the vehicle to proactively avoid potentially dangerous situations.
In addition, Toyota is testing technology that aims to warn drivers of sudden and unpredictable dangers, such as pedestrians suddenly crossing the road.
According to the head of Toyota's Software Development Center, Sarada Akihiro, the automaker hopes to reduce the number of accidents not only by predicting risks, but also by changing the behavior of drivers themselves through timely and accurate corrections.