The vehicle – which is a modified version of a Lexus GS – is being tested on Tokyo’s Shuto Expressway and is equipped for automated motorway driving all the way from the on-slip to the exit.

The driver can activate the functions after passing through a motorway toll and entering a slip road. On-board systems monitor traffic conditions, make decisions and take actions such as merging onto or exiting the road, maintaining or changing lanes and keeping a set distance from other traffic.

In a statement, the carmaker said: “Highway Teammate successfully combines recognition and decision-making processes with the ability to take action in a kind of safety technology that is expected to play an important part in future vehicles. Toyota believes that mobility should mean safety, efficiency and freedom, and is ramping up its research and development of automated driving technologies, with a view to launching related products by around 2020.”