Toyota is to spend US$1bn over the next five years on its US-based Toyota Research Institute (TRI), a high tech research lab that will focus on autonomous cars, artificial intelligence and robotics. Toyota's move comes as competition to develop self-driving cars intensifies.
The possibility of new entrants to automotive from Silicon Valley is also thought to be adding a sense of urgency to Toyota's strategy.
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Toyota has recruited Gill Pratt, a top robotics researcher, to head-up and run TRI operations. He has the authority to hire hundreds of engineers and scientists. Pratt has already hired almost 100 employees including James Kuffner, Google's former head of robotics. A new research facility has also been opened in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Toyota is also striking up partnerships with Stanford, the University of Michigan, and MIT to rethink cars' capabilities and the emergence of advanced technologies.
Pratt is said to be championing "guardian angel" technology that could find the best evasive strategies in an instant if trouble – such as an imminent crash – looms. Artificial intelligence systems could potentially enable the car to calculate a plan for evasive action using all vehicular controls.
"Some of the things that are in car safety, which is a near-term priority, I'm very confident that we will have some advances come out during the next five years," Pratt told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo, according to Reuters.
"In the founding of TRI, one of the main reasons for doing it was to enable our organisation to make decisions more quickly," Pratt said.
