The competition to make self-driving cars a reality among technology companies is hitting up. One of the biggest car companies in the world Toyota recognises this fact and it is taking practical steps to expand its pursuit of self-driving cars by starting a new company called Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, or TRI-AD.
The Tokyo-based venture, which will bring together some 1,000 employees including new hires, will be 90 percent held by Toyota with group suppliers Denso and Aisin Seiki each taking 5 percent.
“This company’s mission is to accelerate software development in a more effective and disruptive way, by augmenting the Toyota Group’s capability through the hiring of world-class software engineers,” James Kuffner, who will lead the venture, said in a statement.
TRI-AD will be based in Tokyo, and its aim is to create a “fully-integrated, production-quality software for automated driving,” according to Toyota. It will then aim to “link” that software with what TRI has been developing, with the apparent goal of creating a completely self-driving vehicle that has been wholly created in-house.
Toyota is also investing $1 billion in artificial intelligence and other technologies through its U.S.-based Toyota Research Institute and has struck up technology partnerships with Microsoft Corp and Uber Technologies.
