Added on May 10, 2016  The News Wheel   , , ,
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Toyota Files for Patent to Tag Driving Routes

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Toyota Patent Tagging Routes

An image from Toyota’s patent, demonstrating how a car might tag routes

If people thought cars in the early 1900s were complicated pieces of machinery, they would probably have no idea what to do with the cars of today’s world. Further complicating (but also simplifying?) what a car can do is Toyota’s latest patent, “Classifying Routes of Travel,” which is a long document from Toyota that basically says, “Hey, you know how we tag our videos and photos (and even this article that Teresa’s writing right now)? Well, let’s do that with driving routes. Cool beans? Cool beans.”

The idea behind the patent is that the system developed by Toyota can “tag” a route in the same way we might tag a selfie on Instagram or a video uploaded to YouTube—though I’m guessing “#NoFilter” won’t be an option available to the Camry. Instead, the vehicle’s system will take photos of the surroundings, such as beaches, mountains, and buildings. Reportedly, it could also use sensors to measure things such as driver’s heart rate; if it’s a bad part of town or really stressful traffic, the system would know.

It could then sort through all that information and come up with appropriate tags, such as “challenging drive” or “scenic route.” Later, other drivers could search for tags based on the driving experience they’d like to have, and routes driven by other people will be recommended to the drivers based on what they are looking for.

It sounds like we’re actually a long way away from this being a reality, but Toyota wanted to lay the groundwork down now. This is possibly an idea that Toyota will revisit down the road, so look out for it on future vehicles.

News Source: CNET