Toyota announced Friday that it will spend $1 billion over the next five years to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) research and development company.
Headquartered in a facility in Silicon Valley near Stanford University, the company, called Toyota Research Institute (TRI), will employ around 200 researchers and engineers. A second center will also be established in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
While the move undoubtedly has automotive implications, the Japanese carmaker seems keen to do more than make cars smarter and safer; it also aims to use AI to aid senior citizens with both indoor and outdoor mobility, according to a press release.
"It is our responsibility to make life better for our customers, and society as a whole," Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation, said in a statement.
The $1 billion investment is an addition to the $50 million the carmaker promised to spend over the next five years, with MIT and Stanford, to establish joint fundamental artificial intelligence research centers at each university.
Essentially, this new investment plan means Toyota already sees such promise in the relationships with MIT and Stanford. It wants to put Toyota-owned R&D centers near the institutions that can use information gathered to develop marketable products. This way, what researchers develop can easily be applied to Toyota's bevy mobility products -- or aid in the creation of all-new ones.
In the short-term, expect to see better voice-recognition systems in Toyota cars. Long-term, we might even see small, personal mobility devices that learn our movements, habits and personalities.