Toyota has announced its newly-created research institute will lead a $1 billion research program into developing advanced automotive technologies to improve safety and make driving easier than ever before.
The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is made up of teams working at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at CES 2016, the head of the institute, Gill Pratt, said that it needs “to solve driving when it's hard”.
Underpinning the research of the TRI will be four clear mandates. The first, focusing on safety, aims to develop a car which cannot cause an accident. Secondly, TRI is being instructed to create technology to aid elderly drivers and thirdly, a mandate necessitates that the TRI creates products to aid in both indoor and outdoor mobility.
Last but not least is a mandate outlining how the TRI will learn from artificial technology to create new robotics.
One of the key projects being worked on by the TRI and highlighted at CES is creating autonomous cars that can respond to unanticipated events. Additionally, “The Car Can Explain” system is being created where a car will be able to explain what it was thinking if it ever becomes responsive for an accident.