A Toyota logo is displayed at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Pierre Albouy
December 17, 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp’s automated driving R&D unit on Tuesday said it planned to deploy advanced self-driving capabilities in mobility service vehicles before it does so in personal-use vehicles.
“‘Level 4’ (driving capabilities) is really what we’re striving for to first appear in mobility as a service,” James Kuffner, CEO of Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, told reporters at the opening of its new offices in Tokyo.
“It will take more time to achieve ‘Level 4’ for a personally owned vehicle,” he added, referring to the automation level at which vehicles can drive themselves.
Toyota next year will release its first so-called Level 2 autonomous car capable of driving itself on the highway, as part of its strategy to develop self-driving cars over the next few decades.
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
