Toyota is investing $1 billion in developing artificial intelligence. The company wants to focus on making cars safer and on applications that help the elderly in everyday life.
Toyota says the new investment is in addition to the $50 million the company invested in artificial intelligence for cars in September, about which IEEE Spectrum wrote at the time. The research is being conducted by a new company, the Toyota Research Institute, with offices in Silicon Valley and near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The investment will run for a period of five years.
The TRI is directed by Gill Pratt. He is an alumnus of MIT and has made his mark as a robotics program manager for Darpa. Two hundred employees will be appointed together with him to carry out the investigation. Gill Pratt argues that the intention is not to take away the human factor from driving. Rather, it would be about ‘providing more driving pleasure’ by making cars safer. In the future, according to the New York Times, it should be possible for all age groups to drive a car. In doing so, Toyota is responding to changes in the demographics of many countries.
In addition to the use of artificial intelligence for cars, TRI also wants to focus on the use of indoor mobility techniques. The aim is to use the techniques to improve the mobility of the elderly.