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Lexus Teammate advanced driver assist tech headed to 2022 LS 500h in the U.S.

Toyota showed off a new advanced driver assist system for the Mirai and Lexus LS in Japan on Thursday this week. At that time, there were details, but no indication of whether the system would make it to U.S.-bound Toyota and Lexus products. We have answers today. This Level 2 driver assistance system will be deployed in the U.S. in the 2022 Lexus LS 500h when it launches later this year. Lexus is naming it “Lexus Teammate,” making it obvious from the start that this is no fully autonomous vehicle. The system is your teammate; itÂ’s not taking over, and instead the two of you work together. With Teammate activated, the vehicle can accelerate, brake and steer to maintain the lane and follow/keep pace with other vehicles. ItÂ’s able to change lanes on its own to go around slower vehicles and can also navigate interchanges. Lexus says itÂ’s usable on “limited access highways,” and notes that itÂ’s only “partial hands-free” in operation. The company also notes you must keep your eyes on the road for it to work — thereÂ’s a camera that monitors the driver and makes sure of this. “We are very proud of Lexus Teammate, which is the culmination of five years of close collaboration between our technical centers in Japan and the U.S.,” says Derek Caveney, executive engineer at ToyotaÂ’s Integrated Vehicle Systems team. “We conducted simultaneous development and rigorous testing in both markets with the goal of achieving industry-leading advanced driver assistance functionality.” Lexus isnÂ’t saying what other vehicles we should expect this system to be in next, but both the LS 500h and LS 500 (sometime shortly after the hybrid) will have it this fall. In addition to the highway assist, Lexus announced a parking assistant. Named Advanced Park, itÂ’s able to assist in hands-free parking for parallel parking or backing into a space. ItÂ’ll control steering, acceleration and gear changes when parking itself, and youÂ’ll be able to watch how itÂ’s doing using the 360-degree camera tech. Just press a button, and your Lexus should park itself. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Toyota investing $200M in Southern manufacturing

Over the past two years, Toyota has invested more than $2 billion at its North American production facilities, and it apparently doesn't plan on stopping there. To keep up with recent strong sales, Toyota is investing an additional $200 million at its engine plants in the Southern US to increase production capacity of its V6 engines.
The bulk of this money ($150 million) will go to expand Toyota's engine plant in Huntsville, AL, which is currently responsible for supplying engines - four-cylinder, V6 and V8 - to eight of Toyota's 12 domestically produced vehicles. That includes the best-selling Toyota Camry (shown above).
Toyota didn't say exactly what improvements are being made to the plant, but this follows last year's $80 million investment in the plant that is set to be completed by next year raising the engine capacity to 750,000 annual units including 362,000 V6s. The remaining $50 million will go to the casting plants of Toyota-owned Bodine Aluminum in Missouri and Tennessee, which supply engine blocks and cylinder heads to the Huntsville engine plant as well as others in Kentucky and West Virginia. Scroll down below for the official press release.

Lexus considering V8 Supercars racing program

Just a few years ago, Holden and Ford were the only manufacturers competing in Australia's V8 Supercars series. But those days were left long ago in a cloud of smoke on the track, and are only disappearing even further in the rearview mirror as the latest intel suggests Lexus could be ready to enter the series as well. Speaking with CarAdvice.com.au at the local launch of the RC coupe, Lexus Australia chief Sean Hanley revealed that his office approached the race organizers to hold "very high-level discussions" about the Japanese luxury brand entering the series. The development is reportedly spurred by the warm reception the RC has enjoyed so far Down Under, and by an expected impending shift in the rules of the V8 Supercars championship. The series has been rumored to be shifting away from strictly eight-cylinder sedans to include coupes and other engine types – a move that would open the door to more manufacturers to participate, including Lexus with the RC F. Currently the field is made up of Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons, Nissan Altimas, Volvo S60s and privately-entered Mercedes E63 AMGs. Nissan, Volvo and Mercedes only joined in the past couple of seasons following the last round of rules changes. The series received "international" status from the FIA in 2011and in the past few seasons has held races in locations as far flung as Abu Dhabi and Texas to its principally Australia-based calendar. Lexus, for its part, has competed in Grand-Am, Germany's Nurburgring-based VLN series and Japan's Super GT series, but unlike parent company Toyota, has yet to embark upon a top-level racing program in Formula One, the World Rally Championship or at Le Mans.