Toyota invests £680m in autonomous driving research
News
23 May 2016
Toyota has invested over £680 million into researching artificial intelligence and robotics for future automotive applications, over the last year.
The investment has come as the government announces that it will introduce a Modern Transport Bill ‘to put Britain at the forefront of the modern transport revolution’.
The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) will serve as a bridge between scientific research and product development. An additional £34 million is also being invested during the same period for joint research projects at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
TRI is also set to add a third research centre in Ann Arbor, which will benefit from close links to the University of Michigan and and Toyota’s other R&D facilities in the region.
The TRI operations will explore autonomous driving or so-called ‘guardian angel driving’ to determine how the technology can successfully be applied to real-world situations.
Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Corporation president, said: “As technology continues to progress, so does our ability to improve products. At Toyota we do not pursue innovation simply because we can; we pursue it because we should. It is our responsibility to make life better for our customers and society as a whole.”
