Toyota Rules Out Self-Driving Car

Executives at Toyota Motor Corp.'s technical center in Saline, Mich., say the company will develop advanced safety aids for drivers but has no plan to introduce a truly automatic vehicle, Car and Driver magazine reports.

Toyota "will not be developing a driverless car," declares Seigo Kuzamaki, deputy chief safety technology officer. Explains Kristen Tabar, vice president of the facility's technical administration planning office, "The human being is the ultimate in sensor fusion."

CD points out that Toyota's philosophy is in contrast to more bullish driverless-car enthusiasts as Google.

Toyota favors technologies that can control steering, brake and accelerator inputs as long as the driver remains alert and aware of traffic conditions, according to the magazine. That would make its systems similar to Daimler AG's Intelligent Drive, which debuted in the 2014 S-Class large sedan, and General Motors Co.'s upcoming Super Cruise expected to launch in the Cadillac CTS in 2017.

Toyota has developed a fully automatic Lexus LS sedan, but only as an R&D project, CD says.