Toyota has committed to invest $50m over the next 5 years on research and development of intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies.
The Japanese automaker is teaming up with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish joint research centres at each university.
Dr. Gill Pratt, former programme manager of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and leader of its recent Robotics Challenge will direct and accelerate these collaborative research activities.
With the investment, the company aims to develop breakthrough technology for life-saving intelligent vehicles and life-improving robots.
Professor Daniela Rus, Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Institute's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) will lead the research activities at MIT.
Daniela Rus said: "Our team will collaborate with Stanford and Toyota to develop advanced architectures that allow cars to better perceive and navigate their surroundings in order to make safe driving decisions.
"These efforts will play a major role in helping reduce traffic casualties, and potentially even helping us develop a vehicle incapable of getting into a collision."
The research activities at Stanford University will be led by Professor Fei-Fei Li, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL).
It will collaborate with MIT and Toyota to develop advanced intelligent systems to recognize, understand and act in complex traffic environments.
Professor Fei-Fei Li said: "Building on Stanford's expertise with computer vision, machine learning, large-scale data analysis and human-computer interaction, our team will work to help intelligent vehicles recognize objects in the road, predict behaviors of things and people, and make safe and smart driving decisions under diverse conditions."
Toyota Motor senior managing officer Kiyotaka Ise said: "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, led 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."
Image: Toyota to establish collaborative research centers with MIT and Stanford. Photo:Toyota Motor Sales.
