Toyota is to invest US$50m over the next five years in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research in partnership with the US academic institutions MIT and Stanford University. Toyota says the research and development of intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies will get a major boost from the new collaboration.
Research will focus on object recognition, detailed situational analysis and other topics, with results to be applied in the company's automobiles and robots.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Toyota also said that Dr. Gill Pratt, former Program Manager at the US DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and leader of its recent Robotics Challenge, has joined Toyota to direct and accelerate these research activities and their application to intelligent vehicles and robotics.
Kiyotaka Ise, TMC Senior Managing Officer and Chief Officer, R&D Group, said: "We're here today to mark the beginning of an unprecedented commitment. We will initially focus on the acceleration of intelligent vehicle technology, with the immediate goal of helping eliminate traffic casualties and the ultimate goal of helping improve quality of life through enhanced mobility and robotics. This partnership, directed by Dr. Pratt, is a great opportunity to work with two leading research teams from two top universities. I am very excited about what this new venture means for Toyota, and I look forward to more announcements in the future."
Dr. Gill Pratt said, "This bold collaboration will address extremely complex mobility challenges using ground breaking artificial intelligence research. I'm thrilled to be a part of the synergies and talent-sharing of Toyota, MIT, and Stanford. Key program areas will be addressed by the two university campuses and Toyota, with combined research targeted at improving the ability of intelligent vehicle technologies to recognize objects around the vehicle in diverse environments, provide elevated judgment of surrounding conditions, and safely collaborate with vehicle occupants, other vehicles, and pedestrians. The joint research will also look at applications of the same technology to human-interactive robotics and information service."
