Toyota Invests $22 million in U.S. University of Michigan for AI Research

Over the next four years Toyota will invest $22 million to support research which is focused on artificial intelligence, automation and robotics.

“Toyota has long enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the University of Michigan, and we are excited to expand our collective efforts to address complex mobility challenges through artificial intelligence,” said Pratt. “We look forward to collaborating with U-M’s research faculty and students to develop new intelligent technologies that will help drivers travel more safely, securely and efficiently. We will also focus on expanding the benefit of mobility technology to in-home support of older persons and those with special needs.”

This funding is going to support cooperation between TRI and U-M faculty in the fields of improved driving safety, partner robotics, indoor mobility, learning and independent driving for students. The University of Michigan is one of the top schools in the country focused on AI studies.

The news is that Toyota will provide its new Ann Arbor research facility TRI-ANN as part of this investment. Apart from this, Toyota will hire two robotics professors from U-M, professors Ryan Eustice and Edwin Olson who will support independent vehicle research. They will work on their positions part-time. TRI-ANN is third TRI facility, and they accompany TRI offices in Palo Alto near Stanford and other in Cambridge, which is near MIT. TRI will also be near two Toyota Technical Center campuses.

Adding to this, Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center also sponsors research at the U-M Transportation Research Institute. This Institute focuses on leading safety technologies.

“Our labs at U-M push the envelope of what robots can sense and understand about the world, and TRI provides an opportunity to apply these discoveries into real-world products,” said Eustice, associate professor at UM. “The challenges that TRI faces with autonomous cars will leverage our labs’ research into complex behaviors, like merging and understanding the intention of other vehicles from their actions,” added Olson, associate professor at U-M. This cooperation is an attempt in influence robotics to make better life in many ways.

“At U-M, we are working closely with partners in industry and government to drive a revolution in connected, automated, and autonomous vehicles that will dramatically enhance the safety and efficiency of moving people and goods,” said S. Jack Hu, vice president for research at U-M. “Our expanding partnership with Toyota will help accelerate progress toward that goal.”
One of the elements of this arrangement is that U-M is intending to issue a broad call for suggestions from other faculties to meet with challenges in safety, mobility and home robotics.

“For decades, U-M has provided a steady stream of ideas and people to fuel the broad ecosystem of automotive R&D facilities in this region and beyond,” said Alec Gallimore, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering at U-M. “We look forward to working more closely with Toyota to spur a new era of innovation that will have worldwide impact.”