The car community likes to complain about the growing number of “nannies” in modern driving, with new car features controlling how you drive and if your eyes are open enough. If you own a Toyota, you may be in for more driving assistance than you bargained for.
According to a report by Chasing Cars, Toyota wants to ban drivers from switching off vehicle safety features. This coincides with increased safety regulations in certain countries, such as Australia requiring that vehicles come with features like autonomous emergency braking to be sold in the country. However, a carmaker demanding these safety features stay switched on would be new.
At the moment, Toyota and other carmakers allow drivers to manually turn safety features on or off. But Software Development Center President Akihiro Sarada apparently told Chasing Cars that Toyota wants to force drivers to keep safety features on that control lane positioning, speeding, and more. For now, Toyota is apparently studying whether drivers should have the “off” button for safety features or not anymore.
“Our ultimate goal is to eradicate all traffic accidents, and of course, autonomous driving is a technology that is necessary to realise a safe environment,” said Sarada.
Toyota’s goal is to eliminate crashes, a very lofty goal. In 2022, there were over 5.9 million reported crashes in the United States, resulting in 2.38 million injuries, according to Carfax.
Toyota would still allow you to drive recklessly in certain circumstances, don’t worry
While driving over the speed limit on the way to work will be a big no-no, Sarada reassured drivers that there are certain times when they can disable safety features. The two designated times you can be in total control of your car? When the car’s software can tell there are no other cars or pedestrians around, and while you’re on the track.
“If it is safe, for example, if it is on the circuit, [autonomous driving and sporty human driving] can co-exist,” said Sarada. “In the area[s] where drivers are able to have fun driving, then we want them to have the discretion to decide the way they drive their cars.
“We have to really study in detail whether or not it is really mandatory for us to control that detail, to the level where we have to forbid them to enjoy their driving.”
Hmm… Will Toyota let us have fun while driving? Will they truly be able to enforce a ban on turning off safety features? How will Toyota know whether you’re on a track? Find out on the next episode of We’ll Maybe Let You Decide How to Drive Your Own Car. However, you may recall in a previous episode that Toyota disables certain features while cars are in motion to keep drivers safe, like preventing any on-screen keyboard use while driving. If anyone is capable of limiting your driving fun, it’s Toyota.
