Toyota thinks cars should brake on their own

Toyota has developed a system that automatically puts on a car’s brakes when it expects a stop sign. The Navi Brake Assist system works by combining data from the GPS system and a rear-mounted camera to know exactly when a stop sign is coming up and using that data to help you come to a stop at the perfect spot.

It sounds a bit unsafe, but the system uses the camera to cross-reference road markings with the locations of stop signs it expects to make sure the car is exactly where it thinks it is. Once the car is within 100 meters of a stop sign, the Navi Brake Assist signals with a sound and soon after starts applying the brakes on its own.

A system like this is hard to get right as any sort of software bugs could mean huge trouble. The system is undergoing trials in four Japanese cities right now, so we’ll see how well it really works.