Silicon Valley Community gets a Hands-on Experience of Future Mobility Delivered by Toyota Research Institute

There was more than 100 people at the Sonoma Raceway on March 3rd. The competition was about fuel efficiency not speed. A broad cross-section of Silicon Valley community took part in Onramp 2017, an annual event and hosted by Toyota Research Institute (TRI). One of the most important ones was the Prius Challenge, where teams competed in efficiency driving nine laps at Sonoma Raceway. Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota Chairman of the Board, was the special guest at this event. Chairman Uchiyamada is considered to be the father of the Prius, being Chief Engineer in first Prius generation.

“TRI’s mission is to improve the quality of life by making use of AI technology. AI can not only improve safety and enhance mobility, but it can also help reduce traffic and time behind the wheel while enhancing fuel efficiency, which is a major theme of Prius Challenge,” said Dr. Gill Pratt, TRI CEO.

In order to make the preparation and strategy easier for the competition, the participants were given access to a driving simulator. This simulator was constructed by Open Source Robotics Foundation and a strategy editor from Hyperdrive. Teams used proprietary coaching app during the race, all in order to adjust their driving performance in real time to attain the best fuel economy. There were four teams whose efforts were identified, and they got awarded in categories for highest overall MPG, best race strategy, best use in machine learning and the highest single lap MPG. The complete Prius Challenge winner was EcoFlow team reaching 85 MPG over nine laps. Following this Prius Challenge, Onramp 2017 offered exciting driving experience for participants, Executive Roundtable discussion with media and the debut of a TRI – developed research vehicle.

There were Chairman Uchiyamada , Dr. Gill Pratt, Dr. James Kuffner, CTO; Dr. Ryan Eustice, Vice President of Autonomous Driving; Mr. Chris Ballinger, CFO and Director of Mobility Services, present at the roundtable. The new test mule is one of the next steps following Toyota’s 12 years in autonomous technology research and development in the U.S. This is planned to be used in exploring capabilities of full range autonomous driving abilities. The participants were also offered a chance to join a professional driver on high speed lap in a Lexus high performance vehicle. The Toyota i-Road, a three wheel electric concept vehicle, was brought to the Onramp event. This vehicle was brought there to fully immerse participants into its exclusive and unique driving experience.