Self-Driving Toyota Test Car Focuses on Sensors, Design and Production

Toyota Motor Corp. says its new research vehicle is fitted with sensors with improved performance, and technology that is better integrated to the car’s design and allows for low-volume manufacturing.

Based on a Lexus LS 600hL hybrid sedan, the Platform 3.0 model is the third-generation self-driving model in less than a year from the carmaker’s 14-month-old Toyota Research Institute (TRI). The car will be publicly unveiled next week at the CES electronics show in Las Vegas.

TRI says Platform 3.0 has a more defined sensor configuration, featuring four lidar heads developed by Silicon Valley Startup Luminar Technologies. The setup allows for 360° coverage around the vehicle with a 200-meter (650-ft) range.

The rooftop lidar sensors and an assortment of cameras are housed in a weather- and temperature-resistant panel, which is incorporated into available space within the car’s sunroof compartment. The streamlined design replaces the bolt-on appearance of “spinning-bucket” lidar systems on previous test vehicles.

Shorter-range lidar sensors are positioned around the vehicle: one in each front quarter panel and one each on the front and rear bumpers. These devices can detect low-level and smaller objects near the car such as children and debris in the roadway.

The electronics and wiring for the automated-vehicle computational system has been consolidated into a small box that take up about one-third of the trunk. In the two previous research vehicles, such components consumed nearly all trunk space.

TRI plans to begin building a small fleet of the Platform 3.0 cars (adapted from stock Lexus LS models) this spring at its Prototype Development Center near Ann Arbor, Mich. Production will be split between vehicles equipped with Toyota’s fully autonomous Chauffeur technology and its semi-autonomous Guardian system.