Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it will set up a research and development company with a focus on artificial intelligence in Silicon Valley, as competition to develop self-driving cars intensifies.
The world’s top-selling automaker plans to invest $1 billion in R&D over the next five years in a departure from its cautious stance on automated drive.
“I used to say, quite until recently, that we will go ahead with automated drive only if they beat humans in a 24-hour car race,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda told a news conference.
“But I changed my mind after I got involved with planning of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (in Tokyo),” he said, explaining it opened his eyes to the need for cars for the disabled and elderly.
