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Toyota Testing “Hitchless Towing” – It Allows You To Tow Another Vehicle Without Any Connection (Video)

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Toyota Testing “Hitchless Towing” - It Allows Vehicle To Follow A Lead Vehicle Without Connection - autojosh

Toyota Testing “Hitchless Towing” Tech, which allows a vehicle to follow a lead vehicle without connection.

Groundbreaking “hitchless towing” tech allows a vehicle to follow a lead vehicle without driver intervention.

The follow vehicle would naturally follow behind as a trailer would, but there would be no physical connection.

The “Hitchless Towing” is being tested with two Toyota Sienna minivans, which have been fitted with a wireless communication system. 





Toyota has started demonstrating an early version of its groundbreaking “hitchless towing” technology that allows a vehicle to autonomously follow a lead vehicle without driver intervention or any physical connection.

Unlike the traditional way of towing a vehicle, which requires a connection between the towing vehicle and the vehicle or caravan you are hauling, there won’t be any physical connection between the two vehicles… Yes, you heard that right — no physical connection.

But how does towing without a hitch work?

“It basically allows two vehicles to play follow the leader,” said Paul Fanson, senior manager of Toyota Motor North America Research & Design’s (TMNA R&D) Advanced Product Planning Office.





“So the lead vehicle would be driven by a human. The follow vehicle would naturally follow behind as a trailer would, but there would be no physical connection.”

Toyota says that its revolutionary hitchless towing system is in the initial test phase, with test runs in highway and urban traffic settings on the horizon.

The “Hitchless Towing” is being tested with two Toyota Sienna minivans, which have been fitted with a wireless communication system that lets the trailing vehicle follow the lead one without any connection between the two or interaction from its driver.

“Hitch ball attachments, safety chain connections and vehicle weight calculations have been reimagined and with Toyota’s new hitchless towing innovation — which is precisely what it sounds like — the limitations of towing may one day be a thing of the past.”, Toyota adds.





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