At the recently concluded CEATEC 2013 event in Japan, we did take a self-driving Nissan car out for a spin, or rather, the car itself took us out for a spin. That just went to show how far such self-driving technologies have come, and Toyota themselves are not going to be left behind the race with their Toyota Automated Highway Driving Assist (AHDA) system. AHDA will be able to link a couple of automated driving technologies so that it is able to support safer driving, in addition to reducing driver workload. Sure, this is no self-driving technology, but anything that makes getting from point A to point B safer is worth checking out.
For instance, cooperative-adaptive Cruise Control will communicate wirelessly with preceding vehicles so that it can maintain a safe distance behind, while there is also Lane Trace Control that will aid steering in order for the vehicle to remain within an optimal driving line within the lane itself. It is said that Toyota will be conducting trials of the AHDA on the Shuto Expressway near the Tokyo metropolitan area from October 15th onward. How soon will such technology make their way to vehicles in the future? It will take some time even after a successful trial, so being patient would help.
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