US Subsidiaries · Automotive (AI research)
Toyota to spend $1 billion on AI research company in Silicon Valley
- Parent
- Toyota Motor (Toyota City, Aichi)
- New US unit
- Toyota Research Institute, Palo Alto, California
- Value
- $1B over five years
- Status
- Announced on November 6, 2015; operations started in January 2016.
- Date
- 2015-11-06
Toyota said it would set up Toyota Research Institute, an artificial intelligence and robotics research company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with a second site in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Toyota committed $1 billion over five years. Separately, it committed $50 million to AI research centers at MIT and Stanford.
Why it matters
The institute gave Toyota its own research base next to leading US universities and technology companies as competition in automated driving intensified.
Leadership and staff
Gill Pratt, also Toyota's executive technical advisor, was named chief executive of the institute. The headquarters sits near Stanford University and the second facility near MIT. Toyota planned to employ about 200 people across the two sites. The $1 billion was to cover setting up and staffing both sites and funding their operations.
Research aims
The institute was to focus first on artificial intelligence and robotics and to bridge fundamental research and product development. Its initial goals were to reduce the likelihood of car accidents, make driving accessible to people of all abilities, and apply Toyota's mobility technology indoors, especially to support older people. Toyota said later work might extend to production efficiency and materials science.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
