Safety function prevents unwanted acceleration
In order to reduce serious accidents and vehicle damage caused by incorrect pedal operation, Toyota introduced a sonar-based system called Intelligent Clearance Sonar as early as 2012, which is now used in 32 models or 83 percent of the product range. However, these systems only work if sensors detect an obstacle such as other vehicles or a wall. The newly developed function prevents unwanted acceleration due to incorrect pedal operation even when there are no obstacles nearby.
For the development, the manufacturer investigated accidents in which incorrect operation of the accelerator pedal was found to be the cause. These cases were compared with related data from networked vehicles to rule out the possibility that the driver had accelerated intentionally. This enabled the company to identify such situations and to use only those situations in which the accelerator pedal was operated incorrectly as a basis for calculation.
By combining the existing sonar system with the new suppression function, the company hopes to further reduce the number of accidents caused by incorrect pedal operation, particularly in parking lots and other areas. Toyota also intends to share the operating logic underlying the function with other car manufacturers.
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