Pity the poor automotive spy photographer.

She spends months in Death Valley with an expensive camera, only for her paying clients to be swamped with cellphone shots snapped by eager readers and sent in for free or posted on social media.

Which is (more or less) how we come to see our first shots of a preproduction Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan testing on a freeway in Southern California, ahead of its U.S. launch next year.

In November this year, the car's official model name was announced: The former "Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan" is now the 2016 Toyota Mirai.

DON'T MISS: Will The Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan Target The Tesla Model S?

Twitter user Mike Magrath--he also happens to be Features Editor at Edmunds.com--tweeted two shots he took last week, asking his followers if the car was the 2015 Toyota Prius. (We think he meant the all-new 2016 Prius model.)

Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan pre-production prototype, Southern California, Sep 2014 [Mike Magrath]

Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan pre-production prototype, Southern California, Sep 2014 [Mike Magrath]

Multiple responses identified the car as the upcoming hydrogen-powered Fuel Cell Sedan.

Now you can see for yourself what it looks like on the road.

ALSO SEE: All-New 2016 Toyota Prius: What We Know So Far

Which is to say, pretty similar to the car that Toyota launched in Japan earlier this year, and has so far shown off in selected venues in the U.S.

As for that elusive 2016 Toyota Prius, which is now supposedly not launching until December 2015, we eagerly await spy shots.

Whether they're from readers or our faithful cadre of professional spy photographers.

[hat tip: Brian Henderson]

________________________________________________

Follow GreenCarReports on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.