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Toyota Will Invest $1 Billion in the R&D of Artificial Intelligence

To improve safety in the automotive industry, make driving accessible to everyone, and apply the company’s technology used for outdoor mobility to indoor environments, that's why Toyota made this decision. The Japanese automaker has decided that two new facilities will be located on US soil and will be established in the course of five years, both being created to research Artificial Intelligence.
Directed by Dr. Gill Pratt, Toyota’s Executive Technical Advisor and the Chief Executive Officer of the new enterprise, TRI will hire leading researchers and engineers to support its broad range of ac 1 photo
Photo: Toyota
The new company is called Toyota Research Institute Inc. (TRI), and is designed as a Research and Development enterprise with an initial focus on artificial intelligence and robotics. The headquarters will be located in Silicon Valley, near Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, while the second facility will be placed near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Operations will begin in January 2016, Toyota announced today.

The company’s decision should not come as a surprise, even though the investment is quite spectacular. It’s not the first time the Japanese present innovative projects in robotics and artificial intelligence, as their intentions were known for a while. Toyota believes this department has significant potential to support future industrial technologies and the creation of an entirely new industry.

The $1 billion investment will be used to establish and staff the two initial locations and conduct operations. The endowment comes in addition to the $50 million investment over the next five years, with MIT and Stanford to establish joint fundamental artificial intelligence research centers at each university.

Despite the fear and skepticism great minds such as Elon Musk have when it comes to trusting machines to take over some duties currently carried out by humans, the Japanese claim TRI will help bridge the gap between fundamental research and product development. According to the company, its primary mission is to accelerate R&D in a range of fields to help resolve society’s future challenges by using artificial intelligence and big data.

This way, they are contributing to a sustainable future where everyone can experience a safer, freer, and unconstrained life. Directed by Dr. Gill Pratt, Toyota’s Executive Technical Advisor and the Chief Executive Officer of the new enterprise, TRI will hire leading researchers and engineers to support its broad range of activities.
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