Interior Radar - Alertness of Driver

I believe it's a feature in the Prius Prime 2023 and not the normal Prius. There is a different (non radar) driver alert setting in the normal Prius that can be turned off.

Prime has a traffic driving assist system that seems to rely on the radar you mentioned (which is weird?).

 

My LE doesn’t have a radar. It works from sensors in the steering wheel. If she thinks you aren’t holding her hand tight enough, she gets upset and threatens to turn off the lane tracing feature. If you ignore her, she’ll eventually assume you’re dead or asleep and stop in the middle of the lane, turn on the hazard lights and unlock the doors.
The upper trims with the advanced parking system will pull over to the side of the road.

 

My Subaru, and every other system I read about use a camera to monitor the driver. I don't think radar could see where your pupils are aiming, assuming it was better than camera in some other way.

Some cars have a camera watching the driver in addition to the steering wheel sensor that can tell if you are looking away from the road. Sounds like the Prius is like my Outback; it's on higher trims.

Adaptive cruise controls always used radar in most models. The input is now being used for other safety systems and driver aids.

Tesla stopped using radar, going with just cameras. Subaru's Eyesight was just cameras for the front, but the new Eyesight X out in Japan now has radar.

 

This is something completely different. Look at the section on "Traffic Jam Assist" and the steering wheel of the Prius Prime. You'll see there is a strange bar on it which is used for monitoring the driver that is absent from all the non Prime models.

2023 Toyota Prius Prime Features | Toyota.com

 

Aww shoot. I thought all Priuses were getting the Traffic Jam Assist, not just the Primes. Oh well, it's not like there are any traffic jams around here anyway. Only time I get into one of those is my approx. once a year to Minneapolis.


But thnok here is correct that the system that looks at your eye position uses a camera that's mounted on the steering column.

 

I see the confusion. Thought you were talking about the radar the car uses to see around it, and not a hypothetical face blasting radar.

The Toyota site states it's a camera doing the driver monitoring. Weird that the camera would be on the steering. The software would then have to account for the position of the wheel in addition to the driver's eyes. I had no luck finding a picture of that bar on the steering wheel. GM steering wheels with Super Cruise have a bar on the top radius that houses lights. These are used to give alerts and info the the driver about the operation.

Not sure how I feel about this Traffic Jam Assist. Not about its operation. It is a step better than what I have in the Outback in automatically starting again after a stop. But in it being hands free. Hands free says to me that it is above Level 2 driving assist, and should be subject to more oversight. The subscription bit sucks, but maybe it's like Super Cruise, and Toyota needs to maintain up to date maps of the roads it can be used on.

 

Prius steering wheel:


Prime steering wheel:

 

Those do look like cameras. Still seems like an odd spot for them. Does this driver monitoring system only work while the Traffic Jam Assist is on, or is it all the time?

 

The following is only medium confidence, so don't take it as gospel.

I believe the cameras are not particularly high resolution infrared cameras. I believe they only operate while TJA is on. And remember that TJA only operates around 25mph and below, so the wheel isn't moving around a whole lot when it's active(plus the cameras are mounted on the fixed portion of the steering column).

 

Also strange why it's only on the Prime.

 

Put a picture of yourself in front of it

 

The adaptive cruise works pretty well in traffic jams in my experience. It's not the smoothest on the gas or the brakes but it does stop the car and will resume if you're not sitting too long.

 

According to Toyota's definition, this is called Driver Monitor Camera (DMC). It's an eye tracker and have its proper place directly inline with the eye of the driver, and some sunglass can obstruct the system.

As for Ford Blue Drive and GM SuperCruise, this is needed for Hands-Free autonomous drive.

Confusing enough, the system is not well described by Toyota, as the feature isn't entirely ready.
In Toyota belongs to the T-Mate package and in Lexus (even more confusing) TEAMMATE.
The Lexus system is well described and you can find videos around.

Edit: TSS 3.0 is a subsystem of the larger package T-Mate.

Somewhere is even specified that Prius gen 5 is the first to have the T-Mate package on Toyota lineup vs. Lexus that already have the system. But i find nowhere specified hands free operations for the T-Mate. Any additional effort of research is appreciated to clarify the topic.

T-Mate Driving Assistance | Toyota Europe

Recently SAE acknowledged that the passage from Level 2 (autonomous drive hands on wheel) to Level 3 (autonomous drive hands free and possibility to mind your business without attention to the road) is too wide.

So, has been introduced the Level 2+ or Enhanced Level 2.
T-Mate and TEAMMATE, and Ford & GM seems to adhere to that definition.

Basically the Level 2+ admits hands-free operations (whether highway or traffic jam) with your eyes supervision (hence the eye tracker), an half way btw Lev. 2 and 3.

Lev. 2, 2+ and 3 differentiate from 4 & 5 because in the former a broad varieties of conditions has to be met for hands-free, while the latter have mostly work always (5 always, 4 can allow bad whether or bad road conditions).

'Level 2+': Making automated driving profitable, mainstream

Comments around correctly specify that we will stick to Level 2+ for a long time, which is an optimal test bed to get experience to make the leap at mass-distribution Level 3s.

 

This is the first Toyota with Level 2+ hands free TEAMMATE system, the Mirai, available from beginning of 2022. Lexus were alraedy available. They call the hands-free condition as "ADVANCED DRIVE".

Perhaps the Prius 2023 (the Prime/PHEV fitted with the DMC-eye tracker) will activate the advanced drive in a future.
It's already specified that safety systems are updated via OTA.

As you can watch, it also makes automated lane changes.

 

@drash posted a review over in gen 5 review thread. reviewer said it was horrible, but you can turn it off.

'but the most dislikable feature by far is the driver attention monitoring system'

2023-toyota-prius-prime-first-test-review