2018 Toyota Crown Concept to Receive New V2V-Safety Features

author: Michael Cheng   

The legendary Toyota Crown has been in production for more than 50 years. Although sold mostly in Asian automotive markets, the luxury sedan is admired by car enthusiasts worldwide, as well as the Japanese government (the vehicle is a popular choice for local government operations and law enforcement projects).

Now on its 15^th generation, Toyota is revamping the Crown for the modern era of transportation. The concept vehicle will debut at the 45^th Tokyo Motor Show at the end of the month (October 27 to November 5). Production for the car is slated for 2018, which will also receive cutting-edge, semi-autonomous driving features.

New Look, Hybrid Model

Drawing inspiration from the Toyota Camry, the vehicle features a sporty look with sleek transitions and LED headlights. The luxury sedan will also receive the same six-window configuration found on the upcoming 2018 Lexus LS. For those concerned about the size of the car, the new Crown is technically larger – but only by 25 mm (length) and 5 mm (height). The wheelbase is also longer, by 70 mm.

Considering the last Crown was released in 2012, the concept car will get a handful of upgrades under the hood.

"Expect the production model to retain the base 8AR-FTS 2.0 litre turbocharged engine introduced on the current car's facelift, producing 235 PS and 350 Nm of torque and paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission," highlighted Johnathan M. Lee from Paultan.org.

Built on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), Toyota is preparing to release a hybrid model to cater to sustainable transportation preferences. This variant of the Crown concept car will likely be powered by the same Multi Stage Hybrid System found in the Lexus LS 500h and LC 500h.

Leveraging V2V Networks

The Toyota Crown concept is equipped with the Intelligent Transport Systems platform (ITS Connect) for V2V networking features. Such capabilities will allow the car to connect to smart sensors on roadways and other Toyota cars with the platform.

"Toyota has been installing similar V2V and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology in certain Japanese models since 2015. The system uses a 760-MHz radio band to communicate with roadside sensors and with other equipped Toyota vehicles, not unlike the car-to-X system found on the current Mercedes-Benz E-class," said Clifford Atiyeh from Car and Driver.

The unit will also receive Data Communication Modules (DCM) as a standard vehicular feature. According to the Japanese car manufacturer, the system enables the collection of big data for real-time safety and entertainment. For instance, information about road conditions experienced by the driver can be fed to a cloud network for traffic monitoring. Furthermore, real-time data provided by the system can be sent to call centers for streamline support during roadside assistance.

Toyota engineers are pushing the limits of the platform by connecting adaptive cruise control to the car's acceleration and breaking features. As a result, the unit is able to provide warnings to individuals during risky driving maneuvers. This includes notifying drivers about the presence of emergency vehicles, road accidents and more.

Michael Cheng

Michael Cheng is a legal editor and technical writer with publications for Blackberry ISHN Magazine Houzz and Payment Week. He specializes in technology business and digesting hard data. Outside of work Michael likes to train for marathons spend time with his daughter and explore new places.