Toyota invests $50 million to develop smarter human-driven car
Toyota Motor Corporation in California that it will invest $50 million to develop 鈥榠ntelligent鈥� cars and robotics聽in partnerships with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
Unlike driverless cars, which Google and Tesla have promised to deliver within the next several years, Toyota鈥檚 vision is to turn cars into 鈥榞uardian angels鈥� that will alert drivers to imminent dangers and help drivers protect themselves from accidents. Toyota has said that , or vehicles that operate without human intervention.
鈥淚n parallel autonomy, there is a guardian angel or driver鈥檚 education teacher,鈥� who left the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to lead the research effort, told The New York Times. 鈥淚t usually does nothing, unless you are about to do something dumb.鈥�
, director of MIT鈥檚 (CSAIL) explained in a press release that the objective of the research is not only to prevent collisions. The new technology will also serve as the eyes for a tired driver, warning of imminent danger, 鈥� such as letting the driver know she is out of milk at home and planning a new route home that allows the driver to swing by the grocery store,鈥� explains the release.
鈥淒eveloping a vehicle that鈥檚 incapable of having an accident is an ambitious goal, but at CSAIL we鈥檝e always focused on the moonshots,鈥� Ms. Rus said.
Smart cars that have some ability to drive themselves are already on the roads, and more features are coming soon. For instance, the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL , and the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu has collision warning and聽. The new Volvo XC90 can take over the steering and speed control to follow the car in front of it at speeds of up to 35 mph.
鈥淲e鈥檙e taking out the part of people鈥檚 commute that they don鈥檛 like,鈥� told The New York times recently. 鈥淓ven people who normally like to drive have told us they want the autonomous part for the more boring parts of their commute. So we鈥檙e giving it to them.鈥�
