• By
  • Jonathan Welsh
Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyota’s pedestrian-avoidance system with automatic steering.

A growing number of new cars are “smart” enough to slow down or even stop to avoid hitting pedestrians. Now Toyota Motor Corp. says it developed a system that can steer the car away from potential trouble.

The mechanism, called the Pre-collision System or PCS, uses automatic steering and autonomous braking controlled by sensors that detect pedestrians and assess the probability of a collision.

The new system is designed to help prevent collisions in cases where automatic by itself would not be sufficient, such as when the vehicle is traveling too or when a pedestrian suddenly steps in front of the car. In such situations, a sensor detects pedestrians and activates a visual alert on the dashboard in front of the driver.

If the likelihood of a collision increases, the system gives audio and visual warnings, and activates the pre-collision braking. If the system determines that braking is not enough to prevent a crash, the steering assistance mechanism takes over to guide the car away from the pedestrian.

The system reflects a movement in Japan to combat pedestrian fatalities, which Toyota said accounted for about 37% of the 4,441 traffic fatalities in Japan in 2012.

Toyotas with automatic steering will not be on the market soon, however. The car company said it plans to make a more affordable version of its current pedestrian-avoidance feature without automatic steering, and roll it out on a wide range of vehicles by 2015, before selling a version with the steering-assistance feature.

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