A Semi-Autonomous Lexus Caught in the Wild?

It’s no secret that all auto manufacturers are on a race to build their first semi-autonomous vehicles, even if it’s a race that no one is all too interested in winning. And by the looks of this Lexus, Toyota is hard at work on this subject.

According to the Boston Globe, this black Lexus LS was spotted roaming the streets of the prestigious Cambridge neighborhood in Boston. While a typical black LS wouldn’t normally raise an eyebrow in this part of town, an LS with a small robot attached to its roof surely did, as this photograph captures the high-tech sighting.

What you see on top of the roof is a combination of a radar system, a lidar, which is a laser-based relative of the radar which analyzes depth, size and other moving objects, as well as various cameras for object recognition purposes. In a perfect world, all of these systems would talk to each other to scan roads, objects on such roads, and other conditions such as rain, snow, changing traffic lights, and even things like pot-holes, etc. All necessary for semi-autonomous driving.

It hasn’t been long since the formation of the Toyota Research Institute, a division of the Japanese automaker charged with exploring the future of transportation. I don’t know about you, but I truly believe that semi-autonomous and fully-autonomous driving will be implemented in the years to come.

Another fact that links this Lexus to the Boston area, is the fact that Lexus recently spent over 1 billion dollars funding various research labs across the country, but one of the major ones happens to be in Cambridge where an ex-MIT professor oversees the entire project.

Stuff is getting real, folks!

Photos via: [BostonGlobe]