The first Lexus with an automated driving system will be released in 2020.

Lexus President Koji Sato has revealed that the company's first automated driving system will be offered in 2020.

In an interview with Automotive News (subscription required) published last week, President Sato said the system will offer hands-off capability, but that drivers will need to monitor the road and take over driving in case of an emergency.

This means that the system would be placed at Level 2 on SAE's automated driving capability scale. The ultimate goal is a Level 5 car, i.e., one that can handle every situation on its own, and therefore does not require the driver to be behind the wheel.

Lexus plans to offer more advanced automated driving systems through over-the-air updates (OTA) as they become available and as the regulations and social acceptance surrounding the technology matures, Sato said. He also said that eventually the technology will be offered on all Lexus models.

Lexus plans to introduce its first automated driving system in its flagship LS sedan. Lexus may have teased this with the LS+ concept car that was unveiled in 2017. The concept featured a self-driving system for highways, dubbed Highway Teammate.

Lexus said at the time that Highway Teammate could handle nearly all aspects of highway driving from on-ramp to exit, including merging onto the freeway, lane keeping, speed adjustments, lane changes, passing, and maintaining distance between vehicles.

Other automakers offer similar systems, with Cadillac's Super Cruise the most advanced so far. However, Cadillac's system only works on highways with adequate map data.

Toyota, the parent company of Lexus, is working on its own self-driving system. Toyota plans to demonstrate some of its technology this summer during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and in 2021 it will add its Sienna self-driving minivan to Uber's fleet of self-driving vehicles.