Tandem drifting Toyotas show how AI might help drivers on slippery roads

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Stanford are plugging AI into 2 Supras that propulsion disconnected Formula Drift-style tandem driving — but they’re looking for thing much important than style points.

In a property release, TRI’s VP of quality interactive driving, Avinash Balachandran, says that drifting 2 cars successful tandem autonomously is simply a “milestone” and has “far-reaching implications for building precocious information systems” successful early rider vehicles.

Beyond nan awesome showing, which can beryllium seen successful a video, professor Chris Gerdes, who co-directs nan Center for Automotive Research astatine Stanford, says nan physics of drifting are akin to nan behaviour of cars connected snowfall aliases ice. Balachandran adds that nan tech tin footwear successful precisely successful clip to negociate a driver’s nonaccomplishment of control, conscionable for illustration master drifters. The strategy tin lick and resoluteness a problem up to 50 times per 2nd to determine what steering, throttle, and brake commands activity champion successful nan conditions.

The dueling and drifting modified GR Supras usage AI that learns from each travel connected nan track. TRI developed nan lead car’s power mechanisms, while Stanford Engineering made nan AI conveyance models and algorithms for nan pursuit car designed to transcript (and not collide with) nan other. The vehicles pass done Wi-Fi and were tuned by GReddy and Toyota Racing Development. By nan way, self-drifting cars aren’t caller to Stanford; they built a DeLorean pinch that capability successful 2015.