Toyota will invest $50 million in a joint research project with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop "intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies," Toyota has announced.

The project, which will roll out over the next five years, will set up joint research facilities at each campus. The research will be directed by Gill Pratt, former program manager at DARPA and the Robotics Challenge.

The Stanford-based research center will collaborate with MIT and Toyota to develop advanced intelligent systems to recognize, understand and act in complex traffic environments. Research will be led by Professor Fei-Fei Li, director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Research at MIT will be led by Daniela Rus, professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

"Our team will collaborate with Stanford and Toyota to develop advanced architectures that allow cars to better perceive and navigate their surroundings in order to make safe driving decisions," said Professor Rus. "These efforts will play a major role in helping reduce traffic casualties, and potentially even helping us develop a vehicle incapable of getting into a collision."