Lexus LS & Toyota Mirai get advanced autonomy

Toyota has announced a feature called Advanced Drive for its hydrogen-powered Mirai and Lexus LS500h flagship. The system manages fine without the driver in many situations.

Specifically, the autopilot can keep the car in the lane, change lanes when needed, overtake, and keep distance. All you need to get it going is specify a destination in the navigator.

Advanced Drive warns the driver as soon as it gets caught in a challenging situation. If an accident seems imminent and the driver does not react in time, the system will attempt to evade whatever obstacles it sees (if any) and use emergency brake.

Unlike previous iterations, the new self-driving system takes advantage of a LIDAR and an extra front-facing camera. The stereoscopic camera and radars are still present as well. Renesas and NVidia chips process data in real time, and updates are installed over-the-air.

Technically, the system is SAE Level 2, meaning the driver still has to pay attention at all times. Tesla’s Autopilot is on the same level, whereas Honda’s solution implemented in the Legend sedan last month is SAE Level 3.

Sales will begin later in April. Getting your own Toyota Mirai Advanced Drive in Japan will cost from 8,450,000 JPY, and the Lexus LS500h will start from 16,320,000 JPY.