Will a future Toyota Tacoma or Tundra have an automated boat trailer backup system? What is this all about? It’s all based on a patent. Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) filed for and just received a patent on a new semi-autonomous boat trailer system that assists in the placement of your boat trailer – both for launching and retrieving.
Here is how it’s supposed to work: Using a combination of cameras and sensors, it helps you find the ideal placement for your boat for launching and retrieving. After you launch and retrieve your boat at your favorite boating location, the system would remember what you did, where you did it and would it will be able to repeat the chore semi-autonomously.
Basically, it could be like semi-autonomous parking, where it does most of the maneuvering and finds the optimum location for a successful (and safe) launch and capture. All of this is to eliminate the need for a second person and possible mistakes at the ramp.
Based on the Autoguide article we used for research, the system could warn the driver if they drive too deep in the water or begin to jackknife. This system seems like it can also be used on regular trailers for parking assist, similar to Ford’s trailer assist perhaps.
A setup like this could find its way to the next generation Toyota Tundra (and/or Tacoma and other vehicles) – which would make sense.
The workings of this Toyota system sounds different from Ford’s Trailer Pro Backup Assist, which uses driver input in order to backup any trailer.
We will keep an eye on this story and see if there are any new developments.
What do you think?
