Yahoo Autos Toyota, Stanford Use A.I. to Make Self-Driving Cars Drift Together
The Toyota Research Institute and Stanford Engineering have collaborated to create the world’s first autonomous tandem drift cars. The two teams used advanced artificial intelligence technology to automate a pair of Toyota Supra drift cars, enabling them to slide and dance in perfect harmony. And the two groups didn't just make self-driving drift cars because it looks cool; this technology, in fact, may one day be used to make driving safer for everyone.
Drifting not only looks cool, but it takes a tremendous amount of car control to do right. Tandem drifting with two cars mere inches apart requires a level of skill few humans can hope to master. Car control like that is certainly beneficial in competition, but it also can be a lifesaving benefit for the average driver — and it's the safety aspect that was the driving force behind this program.
The first vehicle in this drifting tandem is drifting by using a precise amount of throttle, brake, and steering input. The second vehicle takes it one step further, reading the movements of the first vehicle as they both drift and responding in a way that prevents it from crashing into it. The AI system learns and adapts over time, just like a professional human driver would.
So what's the real world application? Well, controlling a car while drifting is similar to how one does on ice or snow. The average driver on the street is not a Formula Drift champion, but there's a good chance they'll eventually find themselves driving in slippery conditions. So, if the car could intervene in those scenarios and control the car as if a Formula Drift driver was behind the wheel, the safety benefits would be obvious. Same goes for future vehicles with true Level 4 or Level 5 autonomy; such true self-driving cars could save themselves from crashing with a flick of the non-existent steering wheel.
If it seems like pie in the sky, remember, features ranging from the rear view mirror to disc brakes to crash structures have trickled down from the world of motorsports into street cars. Someday, we may see a version of this AI drift technology as the next big safety innovation.
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