- the 2021 toyota camry will have updated safety and driver assistance features, toyota announced today.
- toyota’s safety sense 2.5+ includes the ability to better recognize cyclists and pedestrians.
- the system will also help with a new adaptive cruise control overtake feature that speeds the camry up while switching lanes.
a new camry is on its way and with it an updated driver assistance and safety suite. safety sense 2.5+, making its debut on the camry, will be able to better identify bicyclists and pedestrians while adding intersection alerts and potential automatic braking for left turns.
toyota says that the updated safety sense 2.5+ has enhancements that help it detect "a preceding bicyclist in daytime and even a preceding pedestrian in low-light conditions." the update looks to help protect those outside a bit more than the previous version of the system. with rising pedestrian versus car deaths, it’s a welcome addition. nhtsa reports that pedestrian traffic deaths increased by 3 percent in 2018. meanwhile, highway traffic deaths fell 2.4 percent during the same period, according to nhtsa.
the enhanced system also detects vehicles and pedestrians at intersections while the driver is attempting a left turn. in addition to audio and visual cues, the 2021 camry could potentially enable the automatic braking in certain conditions according to toyota.
there's also the new feature that helps drivers overtake slower traffic while using adaptive cruise control. when behind a slow vehicle, once the turn signal is enabled and there is input to the steering wheel to move lanes, the camry will speed up to start the pass. helpful if you’re trying to merge into traffic traveling the speed limit in the next lane over.
these new features are in addition to features already found in the safety sense suite of active-safety features, including automatic high-beams, road-sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and lane-keeping assist.
while the updated system is only in the 2021 camry, it'll likely make its way into other vehicles from the automaker as they are refreshed.