Lexus RX450H 2015 News

If there was ever a snapshot highlighting the challenges of our brave new driving world, surely this is it.Apple’s autonomous car program has suffered its first bruise – and in a stunning irony, it involves the world’s most commercially successful electric car.Reports from Santa Clara, California have revealed that a 2015 Lexus LX450h – owned by Apple and equipped with a battery of autonomous sensors – was involved in a rear-end collision with a Nissan Leaf late last week.The crash was minor, with the Leaf rear-ending the almost-stopped Apple rig at about 24km/h. No injuries were noted.It’s the first reported incident involving Apple’s autonomous car program, which looks a lot different now than it did in 2014, when the computer company announced it would build its own autonomous car by 2017.However, the program was wound back in 2016, with up to 1000 people cut from the project, while Apple focused its attentions on developing autonomous software.The software, known internally as Apple Automated System, has been rolled out across a fleet of some 45 RX SUVs that are actively testing across the state of California, which has granted the Cupertino company licences to run on public roads.Just six Apple employees are reportedly approved to 'drive' the cars, and all hold senior positions within the company.California’s regulations around autonomous vehicles are very strict, requiring licence holders to submit documents like an annual disengagement report, which show just how many times an autonomous vehicle’s driver has had to take control of the car over the testing period.Even the incident report submitted after the crash was on an autonomous vehicle-specific form.A crash between an autonomous vehicle and an EV serves to illustrate the technology barriers that will need to be overcome if self-driving cars are to become part of the modern motoring mix.The majority of crashes in the United States involving autonomous vehicles have been similar in nature, with a piloted car colliding with a slow-moving or stationary autonomous car.There have been tragic exceptions, with a self-driving Volvo XC90 belonging to ride share company Uber striking and killing a pedestrian in Arizona earlier this year, after it failed to detect her crossing a road late at night. The Uber’s minder wasn’t paying attention to the road.It’s also worth noting that the Leaf was recorded as a 2016 model, which wasn’t equipped with AEB as standard; driver safety aids like AEB and lane departure warning are also vital parts of the new technology mix.

Toyota alone has plans for eight hybrids and they will be joined by everything up to super-luxury petrol-electric cars from Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. With a growing number of fuel-efficient diesel cars also landing from Europe, the number of bowser wowsers will soar as quickly as fuel economy falls. Toyota yesterday unveiled its third-generation Prius, the global hybrid poster car, with the promise of everything from 3.9 litre/100km fuel economy and CO2 emissions of 89 grams/kilometre to eco-plastics in the cabin and a solar roof panel to cool the cabin when the car is parked. But hybrids are still not cheap and parking a new Prius in the driveway will cost a minimum of $39,990. The Prius previews some of the technology to be seen next year in the company's first locally-made hybrid, a version of the Camry, and sets the benchmark for the upcoming Honda Insight. It will be the Prius's closest showroom challenger, although slightly smaller, with a pricetag set close to $30,000. Toyota Australia is aiming for 4500 Prius sales next year, in a global total which could go as high at 300,000 in 88 countries worldwide. "In future years hybrids will become the mainstream cars," the chief engineer of the new Prius, Akihiko Otsuka, said yesterday. The Prius push comes as a growing number of carmakers look for a fuel- efficient solution to the world's energy needs, as well as a segway to the all-electric cars which will eventually take over from petrol power. For Toyota, and its Lexus luxury brand, that will mean eight new models led by the Prius, local Camry and a compact Lexus called the HS250h. There is no talk yet of either a HiLux hybrid or any diesel- electric hybrid. "We have looked at diesel but it would be too expensive for the consumer," said Otsuka. The Prius has now been sold in Australia for eight years, although Honda was first into showrooms with its original Insight and still has the hybrid price leader with its Civic. But this is not as technologically advanced as the Prius. AUSTRALIA'S FAVOURITE HYBRIDS Toyota Prius Price: $39,990 Economy: 3.9L/100km Emissions: 89g/km Honda Civic Hybrid Price: $35,990 Economy: 4.6L/100km Emissions: 109g/100km Lexus RX450h Price: $89,900 Economy: 6.4L/100km Emissions: 150g/km

What should have been the main attraction in the car world was reduced to a sideshow as the heads of America's Big Three sat down in Detroit on the same day to beg for the billions they need to stay in business.There was plenty of shiny new stuff but all the talk was doom and gloom, even from car chiefs who do not have the same live-or-die pressures as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler."I think it is fair to say this is the worst we have seen," the head of the world's fifth-largest carmaker, Carlos Ghosn of the Nissan- Renault alliance, says as he delivers the keynote speech at the opening of LA '08."And we are not certain. Is this the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?", Ghosn says of the critical cash crisis which is affecting nearly everyone in the car world.Still, there is plenty of new stuff and news on the strangely subdued stands in downtown LA.The latest Ford Mustang, for a start.And then the world debut of the latest Mazda3 and Lexus RX, the great looking new Nissan 370Z, the updated Porsche Cayman and Boxster, and even a droptop Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4.It's no surprise, either, that some of the special impact in LA is reserved for cars which are chasing the elusive path to a future beyond petrol that satisfies American lawmakers' deepening desire for transport without emissions.The Mini E is the obvious champion, but LA also has the electric Mitsubishi i-MIEV which is likely to become Australia's first plug-and- go volt car, and all sorts of new-and-old battery-powered concept cars from the Big Three and a growing number of hybrid production cars including the Mondeo-sized Ford Fusion.As well as the radical looking Honda FC Sport Concept, which was done to prove that a hydrogen-powered future car does not have to look as boring or family as the company's upcoming Insight or the benchmark Toyota Prius.The show is a mis-hit for General Motors, which canned its concepts and parties, although Ford stays totally committed with a Mustang which makes the running for an event which typically draws around one million visitors in a city which is the car capital of the USA and, by extension, the world."I think there is a mixed emotion at the show," says J Mays (SUBS: CORRECT), the design director of Ford Motor Company."You still have to try and tug hard enough on the heart strings that people forget about the purse strings. It's a yin-and-yang situation."Looking over at his Mustang, and across to the Honda FC, Mays expresses what many people are thinking. Even at a time when it is more politically correct to attack the car chiefs, and their private- jet flights to Washington, than to talk about a show which takes another important step towards the world beyond petrol."Automobiles are escapism. It's not just transport," says Mays."People ask if it's appropriate to launch the Mustang at his time. Damn right it is. It puts a smile on your face and enhances your quality of life."That is definitely true of the Mustang, which still looks muscular and fresh despite a chassis which trails well behind the Ford Falcon, and the open-air Gallardo and even the second-generation Nissan Cube, which could just make it to Australia one day.And the 370Z looks tauter than today's 350, with the promise of more go and much better cabin quality, and the Mazda3 is fresh and happy.The Mini E looks just like the regular petrol-power car but is a milestone car which has the power and range to win people to electric."It's an important time in the history of the global car industry," says Carlos Ghosn.He worries about the impact of the global recession, and the money pressures on carmakers trying to evolve faster than ever before, and the challenges of safety and emission regulations.But, just like the cars on the LA Show stands, and the regular car people who flood in once the doors are open, he is bottom-line upbeat and bright."The one thing that is certain, absolutely certain, is that people will continue driving cars. Cars have no substitute. We have convergence on the issues, but divergence on the solutions," Ghosn says.And that is pretty much the way things looked in LA. 

But that is no surprise with the heads of the Big Three carmakers all skipping the event to continue lobbying for a $US25 billion lifeline from congress in Washington.Ford still splashed with the official introduction of the 2010 Mustang, but Chrysler and General Motors both wound-back their involvement in the second-biggest car show in North America.That left the way clear for the imports, with Mazda pulling the cover off its all-new Mazda3 - the last car it will develop with Ford as its owner - Nissan revealing its revitalised 370Z and a new Cube, and Honda revealing a radical looking new concept coupe called the FC Sport.Lexus also has a new RX SUV, which is being simultaneously unveiled in Sydney and will come as both a pure petrol car and a hybrid, Hyundai is showing a Sonata hybrid concept and the plug-in Mini E electric car is making its first public appearance.The LA show usually draws a crowd of more than one million visitors but the attendance is expected to be well down this year with car sales off by more than 35 per cent in October and America's annual selling rate down by closer to 40 per cent.Still, cars like the Mustang will still draw a crowd in a city which is one of the most automobile driven in the world and there are plenty of pointers to the future including a growing number of electric cars led by the Mini but including concepts from Chrysler.