Toyota is currently testing new car safety systems that are designed to allow vehicles to communicate with one another, as well as with the roads they’re driving on. It build a whole town to do so in fact, which we wrote a post on last week; Toyota Builds Town in Japan to Test Safety Systems.

A Toyota Lexus at the ITS facility in Japan

The cars at the Intelligent Transport System site receive information from sensors and transmitters installed on the streets to minimize the risk of accidents in situations such as missing a red traffic light, cars advancing from blind spots and pedestrians crossing the street. The system also tests cars that transmit such information to each other,” according to the article in the Detroit News.

Toyota says that the smart-car technology will be tested on a few Japanese roads in 2014, and similar tests are in the works for the US. With this new technology the presence of a pedestrian triggers a beeping sound and pictured a person on the screen in the vehicle, a picture of an arrow indicates another car at an upcoming intersection, as well as an electronic voice notifying the driver of a red light if they’re not slowing down.

We’ll keep you updated as we hear more about the releases of these new technologies! If you’d like to see what’s available now, take a look at our new Toyota inventory here!

Image & info via the Detroit News