Toyota's T-Mate safety system will keep you out of trouble

T-Mate is a combination of Toyota Safety Sense and other driving assists

Toyota wants to make the world a safer place, not just for motorists but also pedestrians alike. It's why they've heavily invested in the latest safety technology like Toyota Safety Sense (TSS). But to further highlight its commitment to providing the highest safety standards in vehicles, the automaker is rebranding its safety and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to T-Mate.

The decision to rebrand the ADAS to T-Mate was made to make vehicles feel like a partner or, well, mate, looking out for you and other road users on every journey. According to Toyota, the non-techy name makes it easier for them to explain the benefits the various safety systems offer to motorists.

Does this mean TSS will soon be replaced by T-Mate? No. It's not a replacement for the TSS that we've come to know, but rather a combination of it with other active driving and parking assistance systems. As a result, Toyota says driving will be made easier and safer not just for all occupants but other road users in various scenarios.

The debut of T-Mate even adds new functions and improvements to TSS. For the first time, Pre-Collision System now offers Acceleration Suppression at low speed, Intersection Cut-In Traffic Assist, as well as improved Oncoming Traffic detection and Intersection Turn Assist. Other new TSS functions include Emergency Driving Stop System (EDSS) and Over The Air (OTA) updates. With that, Toyota vehicles with TSS will always be up-to-date and even come with new functions in the future.

T-Mate will be first introduced in Europe in conjunction with the arrival of new products. The automaker adds that a marketing campaign "featuring an empathetic character in a group of friends, who always comes to the rescue in tricky situations" will then act as a representation of T-Mate.