Lexus unveils high-tech $1.75m SUV

If you thought the Rolls-Royce Cullinan was the most expensive SUV in Australia, think again.

This pair of Lexus RX450h hybrid SUVs are part of a $3.5 million program to trial connected vehicle technology Down Under.

The Australian-first trial will last two years and with the initial testing phase on closed roads almost complete, it will expand to public roads later in 2019.

A partnership between Lexus, telecoms giant Telstra and VicRoads – the statutory corporation in charge of building roads and vehicle infrastructure in Victoria – aims to gather data claimed to improve the safety of road users while reducing fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and traffic congestion.

As we’ve previously reported, the two Lexus SUVs are equipped with an advanced suite of sensors, cameras and antennae that allow them to communicate with each other and roadside infrastructure, such as smart traffic lights and CCTV cameras.

The advanced connected vehicle (ACV) system could be likened to an extra pair of eyes – with a really long range. For example, it can alert a driver approaching a green traffic light that another vehicle is about to run a red light, potentially averting a major collision.

James Soo, the vehicle and motorcycling policy director at VicRoads, said the trial is more cost effective than similar trials.

"A lot of other connected vehicle trials out there rely on expensive roadside units and that's the difference of this trial. We have the potential to reduce the investment [costs] of roadside units going forward by using cellular technology," he said.

As one of the major partners in the trials, Telstra is contributing 4G network priority with the right 'latency' to ensure rapid communication between cars and infrastructure. When 5G networks go mainstream, they will also work with the connected car tech.

The objective of the trial is to improve road safety of regular cars but with an eye towards providing autonomous cars with more data and therefore improved real-world navigation.

At present the systems only monitor and warn drivers of impending risks. They have not been integrated with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control or semi-autonomous steering systems like active lane-keep assist.

Soo told carsales.com.au he hopes more cars and more manufacturers will be involved in future to increase the amount of data collection.

"This tech we feel will be critical in making roads safer across Australia when it gets rolled out into the future," said Soo.

He said the trial will help all parties understand the vehicles, the systems and the networks. Public road testing will take place on metropolitan and rural roads.

"$3.5 million has been injected into this trial to make it Australia's first, to be the first connected vehicle trial to be using cellular V2X technology. And today really marks the significance because it is a huge milestone we've achieved," stated Soo, pointing to upcoming public road testing.

"We see the key focus to be really understanding the potential road safety benefits and, in terms of our investment going forward as well as our planning, it's really important that we're informed and can learn from this in terms of infrastructure development.

"The trial uses advanced 4G mobile networks to connect the vehicles directly and allows the vehicles to communicate directly with each other and to send safety warning messages.

"We also allow the assets of our traffic management infrastructure centres in VicRoads to be able to communicate to that and be able to respond to issues around speed zones and traffic signals.

"This is the largest recipient of Victoria’s $9m connected and automated vehicle trial grants program," explained Soo.

The trial is managed by VicRoads and funded by the Transport Accident Comission (TAC), a Victorian statutory body that raises revenue through new vehicle registrations.

Another project funded by the program involves testing fully autonomous vehicles on Aussie roads with Bosch as a technology partner.