Cars may soon ‘talk’ to each other

SUSONO, Japan—Toyota Motor Corp. is testing car safety systems that allow vehicles to communicate with each other and with the roads they are on in a just-completed facility in Japan, the size of three baseball stadiums.

The cars at the Intelligent Transport System site receive information from sensors and transmitters installed on the streets to minimize the risk of accidents in situations such as missing a red traffic light, cars advancing from blind spots and pedestrians crossing the street. The system also tests cars that transmit such information to each other.

In a test-drive for reporters Monday, the presence of a pedestrian triggered a beeping sound in the car and a picture of a person popped up on a screen in front of the driver. A picture of an arrow popped up to indicate an approaching car at an intersection. An electronic female voice said, “It’s a red light,” if the driver was about to ignore a red light.

The 3.5-hectare test site looks much like the artificial roads at driving schools, except bigger, and is in a corner of the Japanese automaker’s technology center near Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan.

Toyota officials said the smart-car technology it is developing will be tested on some Japanese roads starting in 2014. Similar tests are planned for the United States, although details were not decided. Such technology is expected to be effective because half of car accidents happen at intersections, according to Toyota.

Managing officer Moritaka Yoshida said Toyota sees preventing collisions, watching out for pedestrians and helping the driving of the elderly as key to ensuring safety in the cars of the future.  AP