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Lexus RZ 450e EV revealed, with sports car concept and more

Toyota just showed a huge number of concept cars as a preview of what it has planned for the future through 2030. Naturally, Lexus is a significant part of that, and it had its own group of vehicles to show including the production RZ 450e. Not only that, the company announced it would have a full line of electric cars with the goal of having all of its sales in North America, Europe and China be electric. By 2035, Lexus will only sell electric cars. Leading the lineup of future electric cars is the production RZ 450e. Unfortunately, no specifications were given. It looks very close to the LF-Z concept car from earlier this year, but with some of the more fiddly detailing cleaned up, and some of the character lines actually amplified. We wouldn't be surprised if it's closely related to the Toyota bZ4X under the metal. The other vehicles shown were concepts that likely preview future Lexus models. The showstopper is the Electrified Sport. It has exaggerated curves, an incredibly long nose and looks remarkable. Lexus said it should have some eye-catching performance, too. It's apparently inspired by the LFA, and should be able to reach the 60 mph mark in the low 2-second range. And speaking of range, the company estimated a range of around 435 miles, and power could potentially be supplied by solid-state batteries. The other two vehicles shown were a sedan and an SUV, simply called the Electrified Sedan and Electrified SUV. The sedan shares styling cues with the sports coupe, but naturally toned down a bit. The Electrified SUV looks like a boxier, larger version of the RZ. Proportionally, it looks like it may have three rows of seats, and it seems like it could be the next electric Lexus after the RZ. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Toyota develops new pre-collision system with steering assist

A number of automakers are working on developing fully autonomous cars, but it looks like the groundwork for such technologies will likely show up first as semi-autonomous systems for both safety and convenience. Following recent announcements from Nissan and Ford in this area, Toyota has now released information for some of its advanced semi-autonomous technologies that could be offered in production cars over the next few years.
On the safety front, Toyota's new pre-collision system with pedestrian-avoidance steering assist is aimed at protecting the folks who aren't in the car. This system combines visual and audible alerts with automatic brake assist and automatic steering. If warnings don't get the driver to slow down, the brake assist kicks in if a collision is very likely, but if that is still not able to avoid the impending collision (and if there is enough room to do so), the car can automatically steer itself around the pedestrian. This sounds most beneficial for last-second dangers such as a person accidently stepping out into the road in front of a car. Toyota hopes to have this technology available to customers by 2015.
The Japanese automaker is also testing a suite of technologies called Automated Highway Driving Assist (AHDA). The key part of this is a new adaptive cruise control system that uses vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications rather than a radar-based system. This cooperative-adaptive cruise control allows vehicles to communicate their acceleration and deceleration data with other cars, which Toyota says this helps to improve fuel efficiency and traffic flow. Also a part of AHDA is the Lane Trace Control feature, which sounds like a next-gen lane keep assist. This system uses cameras, radar and a computer to keep the vehicle in a "smooth driving line" by being able to change steering angle, engine torque and braking force. Toyota says this technology could be in place by the "mid-2010s."

Lexus planning a hydrogen fuel-cell LS by 2017

Toyota's Fuel Cell System will certainly migrate to other vehicles in the carmaker's lineup, but Australian car site Motoring reports that one of the models at the head of the queue is the Lexus LS. According to its sources, the executive barge powered by hydrogen will be released by 2017 and take the top spot in the range, rolling in above the LS Hybrid. We're told that Toyota engineers will find a way to slide two hydrogen tanks into its bodywork with the same general setup as on the Mirai – one under the rear seats and another under the rear parcel shelf. The 150-kW fuel cell stack will be placed under the front seats. Motoring says the resulting sedan and its 220-kW electric motor would come in "at around 2,100 kg," which is 4,620 pounds; that's a ginormous 539 pounds less than the listed curb weight of the current LS Hybrid, and 387 pounds more than the standard LS. Assuming all goes as planned, it would have a range of roughly 238 miles, a few dozens less than the Mirai's range of about 300 miles. It would look slightly different, too, the front end getting larger intakes to cool the power unit. It wouldn't surprise us if Lexus does have a hydrogen LS planned – it would be a statement car, and the company likes making statements, even if few heed them; it has stuck with its LS 600h for the past seven years, yet of the 7,539 LS models sold through the end of November this year, only 61 of them were hybrids. The timing would be intriguing, however; by the time the LS hybrid came out, Lexus had already worked over its filet-and-potatoes models. And if the hydrogen version is going to come in above the $120,440 hybrid, well, that will be a statement indeed.