Lexus has introduced a new autonomous drive system, which is aptly called Guardian and Chauffer. It involves a car outfitted with two steering wheels. At the backend of Guardian and Chauffer system are technologies like LIDAR, a radar and an array of cameras inside and outside of the car.
The cameras inside the car use facial recognition to gauge the attentiveness of the driver at the main steering wheel. If the system concludes that the driver has dozed off or isn’t focused on the road while negotiating a tricky curve, the system will instantaneously assume control and keep the car in the same lane.
The system is also equipped with anti-collision technology, which can detect stationary or slow-moving objects on the road and take evasive maneuvers accordingly. The additional steering wheel at the passenger side can be used by the front passenger to assume control of the vehicle if the drive system fails.
Guardian and Chauffer is being touted as “the most perceptive innovation in self-driven car niche” by Toyota Research Institute chief technology officer James Kuffner. In the aesthetics department, however, no new ground has been broken, as the Lexus LS 600hL being used to test the self-drive system looks run of the mill with cameras propped on the rooftop. Let’s hope the newly unveiled system would put Toyota on par with other contenders in the self-driven vehicle market.