What's the news?
With a lot of froth and nonsense going around about robotic and self-driving cars, Lexus is (perhaps not surprisingly) taking a more sensible, realistic route. The LS+ concept car (based, obviously, on the new LS luxury saloon) deploys a new "Highway Teammate" system that is designed to work only on multi-lane main roads and motorways, away from the confusing, hectic urban environments that are so currently taxing for robot cars.
The LS+ concept can handle situations such as "merging into highway traffic, lane keeping, speed adjustments, lane changes, overtaking and maintaining vehicle-to-vehicle distance." Toyota and Lexus say that it should have such a system on sale by 2020. The artificial intelligence system which controls the car can communicate with a data centre to receive constant over-the-air software updates to keep it at the cutting edge.
Lexus says that the system has been designed to "improve highway safety, reduce driver fatigue and lower the amount of traffic congestion through appropriate recognition, judgment and operation by on-board systems in response to traffic conditions."
The concept car in which it sits is based on the new Lexus LS, but is actually a little wider and longer, and features a more aggressive interpretation of the big 'Spindle' grille. It also gets laser headlights, and improved aerodynamics. The new LS, with a choice of V8 LS500 and V6 hybrid LS500h, will be going on sale here in Ireland in 2018.