Toyota is not only a leader in producing reliable and efficient vehicles but also a pioneer in advancing mobility safety for the benefit of society. Through its Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC), Toyota has been conducting cutting-edge research on various aspects of traffic safety, human factors, and automated driving since 2011. The CSRC works with universities, hospitals, and other institutions to share its findings and insights with the automotive industry and the public. In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the latest projects that the CSRC has launched or expanded as part of its current five-year research phase.
Human-Centric Safety
One of the main goals of the CSRC is to understand and address the diverse safety needs of different groups of road users, especially those who are at risk or vulnerable. For example, the CSRC has partnered with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to study how children interact with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and how to design these systems to be more child-friendly. The CSRC has also collaborated with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to investigate how older drivers cope with cognitive decline and how to support their safe mobility.
Another project that the CSRC has recently expanded is the development of a virtual reality (VR) platform that can simulate various driving scenarios and measure drivers' physiological and behavioral responses. The VR platform can be used to test the effects of different factors, such as fatigue, distraction, or impairment, on driving performance and safety. The CSRC hopes that this platform can help identify the best ways to intervene and assist drivers in critical situations.