Toyota builds a robot Supra to help find the next generation of A.I.-based safety features

Today’s Toyota Safety Systems are pretty incredible, including brand-wide technologies like the radar-based pre-collision system with pedestrian assist, which can “see” pedestrians in the road ahead and automatically stop if you don’t react in time to avoid a tragedy, and Lane Tracing Assist, which can read the lines on the road and gently steer your car to help keep you perfectly centered in your lane.

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence and supercomputing, Tomorrow’s Toyota Safety is sure to be even more incredible, not only protecting drivers in the event of a crash but — as with Lane Tracing Assist and the Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Assist — helping you avoid a crash altogether.

Recently, the Toyota Research Institute took the wraps off an incredible new project they have been partnering on with Stanford University’s Dynamic Design Lab: an autonomous Toyota Supra Race Car that uses Artificial Intelligence to execute picture-perfect, high-speed drifting maneuvers — basically tightly-controlled burnouts and slides through corners — all on its own. The hope is that someday, your A.I.-equipped Toyota will be able to not only protect you from an imminent collision, it will actually be able to anticipate the collision, react in milliseconds and take evasive action with the skill and reflexes of a professional racing driver, helping you avoid accidents altogether. 

“Every day, there are deadly vehicle crashes that result from extreme situations where most drivers would need superhuman skills to avoid a collision,” said Gill Pratt, Chief Scientist at Toyota Motor Corporation. “The reality is that every driver has vulnerabilities, and to avoid a crash, drivers often need to make maneuvers that are beyond their abilities. Through this project, TRI will learn from some of the most skilled drivers in the world to develop sophisticated control algorithms that amplify human driving abilities and keep people safe.”

The development of Toyota’s autonomous drifting Supra stems from the Toyota Research Institute’s longstanding partnership with Stanford’s Dynamic Design Laboratory, which seeks new and potentially game-changing advancements for industry. 

“Since 2008, our lab has taken inspiration from human race car drivers in designing algorithms that enable automated vehicles to handle the most challenging emergencies,” said Professor Chris Gerdes of Stanford University’s Dynamic Design Laboratory.  “Through this research, we have the opportunity to move these ideas much closer to saving lives on the road.”

The current project draws on Stanford’s published paper, “Opening New Dimensions: Vehicle Motion Planning and Control using Brakes while Drifting.” For that project, Stanford researchers built a high-performance, all-electric version of a DeLorean sports car, similar to the one seen in the 1980’s film “Back to the Future,”  which they called MARTY.

By using a complicated series of cameras and sophisticated artificial intelligence computing, researchers taught MARTY to drift autonomously through a challenging obstacle course without any human input, with the system even able to react to and correct for changes in the environment, just like a professional race driver would. Toyota soon adapted the technology for their autonomous drifting Supra. More than just a high-horsepower toy, the robot drift car is helping the team make important new discoveries that could go into helping the next generation of Toyota vehicles keep you and your family safe.

Cutting-edge research like this is one more reason we’re proud to sell quality Toyota cars, trucks and SUVs here to Landers Toyota NWA. Ready to drive the vehicles of the future that you can own today? Stop in for a test drive, or check out our full selection of 2021 Toyota models at our website right now.