With almost seven years of partnered research with Stanford Engineering, Toyota has finally been successful in drifting two autonomous Supras in tandem.
Toyota Research Institute and Stanford Engineering have been working together on research for almost seven years to make driving safer. They have been working on automating a vehicle’s maneuver called “drifting,” where a driver precisely controls a car’s direction after breaking traction by spinning the rear tires.
The teams have added a second car drifting in tandem and have quite closely simulated dynamic conditions where cars must respond quickly to other automobiles, cyclists, and pedestrians.
They have been testing new crash avoidance systems that could embed the expertise of a pro-level drifter in modern rides to help riders recover from skids and slides.
The Toyota Supras are the first rides to integrate with this new achievement. Both models are programmed differently, but each of them features computers and sensors that control their steering, brakes, and throttle.
During the test, TRI programmed the command car to perform a drift along a pre-destined path, whereas Stanford coded the chase car to adjust effectively to the command car to drift next to it without colliding, and we are gushing about it because it worked.
Avinash Balachandran, vice president of TRI’s Human Interactive Driving division, has proudly stated that what TRI and SE have been working on for years is a new technology that can take over promptly in time to safeguard a drive and manage their loss of control, just like a pro drifter.
It is a well-known fact that most drivers out there lack the skills to keep a skidding or sliding car safe and sound. During such a situation, a driver generally has only a split second to react, but having an autonomous system that is capable of controlling their vehicle through drift as they lose control at their disposal could help in saving lives.
The researchers from the two institutions are using this ongoing project as a base to learn more and create new ways of controlling automobiles on ice.
When it comes to safety, modern cars are way safer than any other vehicle in history. And technology is the biggest reason for this transformation. Today’s vehicles are not only a mode of transportation. They are self-aware, reactive to their surroundings, and capable of interceding even before their rider can get aware of a looming collision.
Despite being this capable, modern cars are still far from perfect and cannot take over the need for human presence behind the wheel. But the good thing is that Toyota and Stanford’s latest drift cars can help fill those gaps to perfection. However, when it comes to a world full of autonomous cars, we are still years away.
