The new "hands-free" driving system from Lexus isn’t really hands free, but that doesn’t mean the luxury brand’s Teammate driving assistant doesn’t work. It does exactly what Toyota wants it to do. What’s interesting is how different that is from what General Motors, Ford and Tesla expect from their driving assistants.
I was the first "civilian" — meaning not a Toyota employee — in the world to test Teammate on public roads this week, on busy but fast-moving highways near the automaker’s North American HQ in Plano, Texas.
Key elements of Lexus Teammates include:
—Front-facing long range radar
—Front and rear short-range side radar
—Front facing lidar
—360-degree parking cameras
—Front-facing telescope and locator cameras
—High-definition mapping of selected limited access highways in the U.S. and Canada
—Driver facing camera to assure attentiveness
—‘Hands on steering wheel’ requirement when changing lanes and on exit ramps
Lexus vs. Cadillac, Tesla, Ford
“We want the car and driver to work together. The goal is to reduce traffic accidents,” Lexus global communications manager Paul Williamsen said.
Teammate “was designed to partner with and assist the driver to promote safe and convenient while driving on the highway,” according to Lexus documents. The other automakers’ systems also prioritize safety, but they also emphasize reducing driver fatigue and making driving easier and more pleasant.
Teammate, which is scheduled to go on sale in the LS500h luxury sedan later this year, worked as advertised. My time behind the wheel was too brief to say if Teammate is better, equal to or worse than the only commercially available fully hands-free highway driving system, Cadillac’s Super Cruise.
It’s definitely different, though, a point repeatedly emphasized when Teammate instructed me to put my hands on the steering wheel and check my blind spots, things Super Cruise does not require.
Lexus says Teammate’s advanced drive feature, which manages brakes, acceleration, following distance and some steering on some limited access highways, was developed first and foremost to increase safety, not to make highway driving easier and more relaxing.
That’s not to say Super Cruise, and Ford’s upcoming Blue Cruise system — which I haven’t tested yet, but expect to perform similarly — don’t prioritize safety. That’d be crazy, stupid and a potential legal quagmire — as frequent investigations into accidents involving Tesla’s poorly named Autopilot assistant demonstrate. Autopilot is NOT a hands-free driving system.
It’d be morally and financially ruinous for an automaker to unleash an unsafe driving assistant. Lexus, GM and Ford are unanimous in that. Tesla’s policy, which includes using drivers to beta-test Autopilot, is more ambiguous. Full disclosure: I’ve experienced Tesla Autopilot only in brief drives with a company chaperone on board. I’ve logged thousands of miles behind — but not touching — the wheel in Cadillacs with Super Cruise.
Lexus won’t say how many miles of limited access highways are in Teammate’s database. GM says Super Cruise is available on more than 200,000 miles of road in the U.S. and Canada.
Doing what it's designed to do
Teammate succeeded in hands-free lane following and maintaining speed and distance from other vehicles during my test drive, which also included lane changes and several off-ramps. My vehicle had the software Lexus plans to use when Teammate is available to the public later this year.
In normal highway driving, Teammate was smooth and reassuring. The instrument panel and a head up display provided information about vehicles in adjacent lanes and whether my vehicle was centered in its lane or moving slightly to make room for a meandering neighbor.
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, but seem connected to Lexus’s idea that the car and driver are "partners," the driver must have their hands — extremely lightly — on the steering wheel at times. Teammate requires a greater level of driver involvement than Super Cruise, as Lexus intended.
The big differences are in changing lanes and exiting the highway.
One of those functions is a clear win for Super Cruise, the other a possible advantage for Teammate.
Lane changes: Super Cruise wins
Once the driver indicates a lane change using Super Cruise, the car takes over, accelerating or slowing to merge into an appropriate space. If one can't be found, the car reverts to hands-free driving in its lane.
If Teammate thinks there’s enough room, the driver must put their hands lightly on the steering wheel — very lightly, or Teammate deactivates and you are unexpectedly in charge of driving. The driver must also glance at the side mirror. After the driver performs both those acts, the Lexus will merge.
Exiting the highway: Advantage, Teammate
The car notifies the driver of an impending exit about 4 miles in advance. The driver should then change lanes, as described above. When the exit arrives, the driver must again touch the wheel lightly while the car steers onto the ramp. Teammate deactivates when the car gets far enough down the ramp that its digital map no longer applies.
Super Cruise works on ramps from one limited access highway to another, but it deactivates the moment the car enters the ramp to a surface road.
It feels odd to have to have to touch the wheel so lightly you have no input on steering. Lexus suggested that makes it more likely the driver can intervene if Teammate runs into something it can’t handle.
I found Teammate a bit more fidgety than Super Cruise, occasionally deactivating for no apparent reason.
I look forward to getting to know Teammate better on longer drives.
