Subaru has a development Levorg wagon that drives hands-off at a maximum set speed of 135 km/h, according to reports on a Subaru briefing about its next-generation EyeSight. The test car carries EyeSight X, the Japan-market driver-assist suite that today allows hands-off driving only in traffic jams at or below 50 km/h. Autoblog’s Jacob Oliva reported the demonstration on Nov. 10, and the Japanese outlet Motor-Fan covered the underlying briefing, which took place on Oct. 17, 2026. None of the coverage gives a production date or a list of models.
The tech news worth your time: 400,000+ professionals from Google, Apple and OpenAI read Techpresso, a daily email with the most interesting tech news and insights.
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
EyeSight X hardware reused for the 135 km/h target
The development car keeps the sensor set already sold with EyeSight X: a wide-angle stereo camera, radars at the four corners of the car, rear sonar, high-definition map data and high-precision satellite positioning. Subaru intends to add capability through software rather than new parts, so the 135 km/h ceiling, the lane-change logic and the overtaking behavior all come from reworked control programming running on sensors that already exist on the Japanese Levorg. Autoblog identifies the car as a current Levorg, also known as the WRX Wagon, and says Subaru hinted that the final version could include more features than the prototype showed.
The speed gap is large. In Autoblog’s account, current EyeSight X lets go of the wheel only in congestion below 50 km/h, while the next-generation system covers the full speed range up to the 135 km/h setting. Motor Illustrated, which drew on reporting from Motor-Fan and Car Watch, adds that Subaru’s long-term label for the goal is Level 2++, shorthand for hands-off driving on ordinary roads while the driver stays responsible for supervising. Motor-Fan rates today’s EyeSight X as Level 2 with some Level 2+ behavior.
Overtaking, turn-signal lane changes and the shoulder stop
Three behaviors were shown on the development car. A tap of the turn-signal stalk starts a hands-off lane change with no steering input. When the car detects a slower vehicle ahead in its lane, it overtakes on its own. And if the driver stops responding, the car escalates through warnings, brake pulses meant to wake the driver, the horn and hazard lights, then steers onto the shoulder and stops.
Motor Illustrated notes that a production version would be expected to expand on what was demonstrated. Subaru is also weighing a step in which the driver approves each lane change before the car executes it, and the final version may carry more features than the prototype showed.
Narrow shoulders and other unfinished work
Motor Illustrated reports that Subaru is still studying how the system should propose a lane change and how drivers should confirm one. Ideas under consideration include a turn-signal stalk that is easier to half-press and a correction that keeps the car centered in its lane. Narrow shoulders remain an open engineering problem for the emergency stop, because the car needs somewhere safe to pull over and many roads offer little room.
Autoblog also notes a class-action lawsuit alleging that some newer Subarus with EyeSight brake for no reason, miss hazards or interfere with steering. Those claims are unproven, and the coverage does not say whether the suit touches the next-generation program. Separately, Subaru has been working with Infineon on a microcontroller built on the AURIX TC4x platform for an integrated unit that would run EyeSight and the car’s motion controls together, with no production date given.
Hands-free on the Outback today versus the Levorg test
Subaru of America’s March 4, 2026 release describes Highway Hands-Free Assist, which works at up to 85 mph on most U.S. highways in the 2026 Outback Touring and Touring XT. Existing owners can get it as a no-cost update. The system engages with adaptive cruise control on highways with at least two lanes, uses a second-generation DriverFocus camera to check attention, and relies on map data from predetermined highways, with map updates tied to a MySubaru subscription. Its feature list also covers highway active lane change assist, automatic resume, pre-curve speed control and an emergency stop assist that selects a safe lane. Subaru said its engineers logged nearly 100,000 miles of hands-free driving during development. A 135 km/h setting works out to about 84 mph, so the Levorg test target sits close to the American Outback’s ceiling, but the Japanese car is being asked to do it across all speeds and with automatic overtaking. Motor Illustrated adds that the Canadian 2026 Outback Premier XT already offers Hands-Free Assist at up to 135 km/h on designated highways, tied to a MySubaru Connected Services subscription. The figure itself is therefore familiar to Subaru, and what is new in the Levorg test is hands-off driving across the whole speed range on EyeSight X sensors.
No Subaru executive or engineer is named in any of the coverage, so the 135 km/h figure rests on Motor-Fan’s report of the Oct. 17 briefing at the Subaru Research and Experiment Center in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, and on Autoblog and Motor Illustrated repeating it. Whether the production version keeps that speed, and in which markets, is still unanswered. Motor-Fan describes the concept as delivering top-class peace of mind to many customers at an affordable price, which is the outlet’s summary of the direction and not a quotation from a named Subaru speaker.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
The tech news worth your time: Subscribe to Techpresso →
We may earn a commission if you sign up.
More from Morning Overview
- Shaq spent $1.3 million on three Rolls-Royce Phantoms to prove a point to a salesman
- The Justice Department asked courts to undo approvals for three offshore wind farms, one already making power
- Over 20 trillion gallons of rain fell on the Four Corners states and Nevada in two weeks
- 11 engines built to run well past 200,000 miles
