A commitment to ensuring driver safety in the
greater Reno and Carson City area, is
important to Toyota. This is why it is going above and beyond the Star Safety System
that's standard in all of its new Toyota
inventory. Toyota is now teaming up with Microsoft to bring safety innovation a
step above other automakers. Here at Reno Toyota we are
excited to bring you all the details.
With so many controls in a vehicle that have the potential of distracting a driver from watching the road, Toyota is teaming up with Microsoft to make driving less distracting. The plan is to create an alternative way for drivers to safely operate secondary controls within an infotainment system. To control things like navigation, or audio volume, a driver will be able to move their hands rather than reach for a dial or button. Simplification is key when it comes to making driving tasks easier to perform.
In order to test out this advanced technology, the research team for Toyota, ironically named the Board of Awesomeness, has developed a makeshift test vehicle. It is made up of an electric skateboard with a Windows 8 tablet and a Kinect sensor attached. This combination will help to further develop the sensor based controls for future vehicles.
Jim Lentz, head of Toyota in the US, recently said at the Los Angeles Auto Show, "Imagine a dashboard where there are no buttons to push. . . no screens to tap. . . and your eyes can remain focused on the road. That's exactly what Toyota is working on."1
As the design is being prototyped in a single passenger electric vehicle in Japan, here at Reno Toyota we can only imagine how this technology would completely change the safety dynamics within a vehicle. Until then, come by and visit us at 2100 Kietzke Lane Reno, NV 89502 where you can visit our Toyota service center to see how your vehicle could be enhanced for safety.
Source: 1http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/142822-toyota-and-microsoft-working-on-driver-gesture-recognition-no-not-those-gestures
