Toyota announced that it has hired Jaybridge Robotics engineering team in order to strengthen its autonomous vehicle development effort.
The 16 member Jaybridge engineering team will join Toyota Research Institute's (TRI) facility in Cambridge.
This move reflects Toyota's aim to speed up its research and development in autonomous driving technology as well as its ambition to become major players in the auto industry worldwide.
Toyota Research Institute, CEO, Gill Pratt said: "TRI's mission is to bridge the gap between research and product development in many areas, including artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous passenger vehicles."
"The 16-member Jaybridge team brings decades of experience developing, testing and supporting autonomous vehicle products which perfectly complements the world-class research team at TRI."
Jaybridge, CEO, Jeremy Brown added: "Where Jaybridge has historically limited its focus to industrial applications such as agriculture and mining, TRI is going after the big one: helping to reduce the nearly 1.25 million traffic fatalities each year, worldwide.
"We couldn't be more excited."
The Japanese automaker says that the new team will be working closely with counterparts at TRI facilities across the US along with partner Toyota research and development teams across the world.
Last year Toyota announced that it will invest $1bn in research and development in artificial intelligence, especially on technology related to autonomous driving.
Toyota Research Institute was started in 2015 for research and development purposes. The motive of the institute is to bridge the gap between fundamental research and product development.
Earlier this year, Toyota Research Institute (TRI) had hired new technical leadership team which includes head of Google's robotics division James Kuffner, in order to strengthen its self driving car technology.
The institute is working towards bringing enhanced safety to automobiles. The ultimate goal of the institute is to develop a car which can run on road without causing a crash and to increase the access of self-driving vehicles to those who cannot drive.
Image: Toyota's automated driving test vehicle Highway Teammate. Photo: courtesy of Toyota Motor Corporation.
