Travel in Safety with Your Own Close Protection Team in the New Lexus RX

• Lexus uses multiple advanced technologies to give the new RX unprecedented active safety and driver assistance provisions – the equivalent of travelling with your own bodyguards
• Panoramic View Monitor provides real-time 360-degree and bird’s eye views of the vehicle’s immediate surroundings
• Lexus Safety System + provides an exceptional array of systems to forewarn the driver, protect against the risk of accidents and mitigate the consequences should an impact occur
• First UK public appearance of the new RX at the BBC Good Food Show Scotland this week

The world’s rich, famous and powerful rarely move without an entourage to take care of all their security needs. Now the benefits of personal close protection are being extended to owners of the new Lexus RX. The new luxury SUV offers a wealth of advanced technology features that are constantly at work to help you travel in safety, whether cruising at speed, heading off-road or simply manoeuvring into a tight parking spot.

Panoramic View Monitor
Negotiating a tight parking space or making your way over rough and unmade surfaces are familiar driving challenges, and ones which can too often result in bumps, scrapes and frayed tempers. These kinds of tasks are made easier and safer in the new Lexus RX thanks to a 360-degree Panoramic View Monitor. This uses an array of cameras that not only give you an all-round view of your vehicle’s location, but also provide a bird’s eye view for even better sight of your immediate surroundings.

The Panoramic View Monitor works in conjunction with the Lexus Park Assist sensors and monitor, Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert to make you aware of obstacles, hazards and other vehicles that may be hidden from view from the driver’s seat, eliminating any blind spots. When steering the car into parallel or series parking spaces, the Parking Assist Monitor can add guidelines to the real-time camera images to help you steer precisely, while front and rear sensors will sound an alert as move closer to another car or obstacle.

These are all part of the new RX’s advanced driver assistance systems, which form the most comprehensive package yet featured in the model, with up to 12 different elements. Lexus’s aim is not just to provide extra protection for the RX and its occupants, but also to improve road safety generally.

Lexus Safety System +
The new RX is equipped with Lexus Safety System +, a multi-feature, integrated safety package that delivers exceptional levels of active safety and driver assistance to help prevent accidents happening. Not only does Lexus provide the most comprehensive active safety provisions in the premium SUV market, it does so at a price that is significantly lower than that of rival systems.

At the heart of the Lexus Safety System + is the Pre-Crash Safety system with Pre-Crash Brake Assist. This uses a front-mounted camera and millimetre-wave radar to detect vehicles and pedestrians on the road ahead. If it calculates a risk of a collision, it automatically warns the driver and the Pre-Crash Brake Assist engages to provide extra braking force the moment the brake pedal is pressed. If the driver fails to react and the system judges a collision to be imminent, the brakes are automatically applied to reduce vehicle speed and the force of any impact.

The same radar unit is used to provide Adaptive Cruise Control, which helps the driver maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front, even at very low speeds. Once the way ahead is clear, the RX automatically accelerates to its pre-set cruising speed.

The package also includes Lane Departure Alert (LDA) and Lane-Keeping Assist (LKA), which recognise when the new RX is deviating from its lane on the highway and help the driver steer the vehicle safely back to its correct path. Lane Departure Alert uses a camera on the windscreen to track the vehicle’s course between lane markings painted on the road surface. If it judges that the new RX is about to move out of its lane without the turn indicator being used, the system lights up a warning on the multi-information display and vibrates the steering wheel. It will also apply appropriate steering control force to help bring the vehicle back on course.

Lane-Keeping Assist provides an extra layer of assistance, automatically providing steering inputs to keep the car safely within its lane, notably when the Adaptive Cruise Control is being used. In a first for a Lexus, Lane-Keeping Assist can be used even at very low speed, when the Adaptive Cruise Control is operating.

Lexus Safety System + further includes Automatic High Beam, which detects oncoming traffic and vehicles ahead and automatically switches the headlights between high and low beam. The flagship Premier models feature the Adaptive High Beam system, which gives even better illumination by adjusting light distribution to avoid dazzling other road users, instead of switching the headlights to low beam.

The driver also gains a “second set of eyes” when it comes to important road signs on motorways and major routes. The Traffic Sign Recognition system uses a front camera to recognise principal warning and command signs, which are then replicated on the multi-information display, reducing the risk of the driver not being aware speed limits, lane closures and other important information.

New RX debut at the BBC Good Food Show Scotland
The new RX will make its UK public debut this week at the BBC Good Food Show Scotland. It will feature on the main Lexus stand at the show, which takes place from Friday to Sunday (6 to 8 November) at the SECC in Glasgow.

Lexus is a headline sponsor of the BBC Good Food Shows and will have three displays at the Scottish event, featuring the RX and the new RC coupe, IS saloon and NX crossover.

The new RX is available to order now, with customer deliveries from January. Pricing and specification information is available here.