Toyota Expands Autonomous Car Research Team

A software engineering team from Jaybridge Robotics — a company focused on the automation of industrial vehicles — has joined the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) in Cambridge, Mass.

The former Jaybridge team will work closely with counterparts at TRI facilities across the U.S., as well as with partner Toyota research and development teams around the world, Toyota said.

“TRI’s mission is to bridge the gap between research and product development in many areas, including artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous passenger vehicles,” TRI CEO Gill Pratt said. “The 16-member Jaybridge team brings decades of experience developing, testing and supporting autonomous vehicle products, which perfectly complements the world-class research team at TRI.”

Since 2008, Jaybridge Robotics has worked with partners across a range of industrial applications, including agriculture, mining, marine and rail. 

“Where Jaybridge has historically limited its focus to industrial applications such as agriculture and mining, TRI is going after the big one: helping to reduce the nearly 1.25 million traffic fatalities each year, worldwide. We couldn’t be more excited,” Jaybridge CEO Jeremy Brown said.

Launched in 2015, TRI is focused on enhancing automobile safety, with the ultimate goal of creating a car that’s incapable of causing a crash. Other goals include increasing car access for those who otherwise couldn’t drive, helping translate outdoor mobility technology into products for indoor mobility, and accelerating scientific discovery by applying techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning.