Toyota Research Institute to Test Autonomous Vehicles in Calif.

Oct. 30, 2017—Toyota Research Institute (TRI) signed an agreement with GoMentum Station to test autonomous vehicle technology at the 5,000 acre autonomous vehicle proving grounds located in Concord, Calif. 

This partnership is managed by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) and it will enable TRI to expand closed course testing of its two-prong approach to vehicle automation – Guardian and Chauffeur. 

TRI has made advancements in its research into automated driving and recently demonstrated Platform 2.1, its new advanced safety research vehicle that allows for testing of both Guardian and Chauffeur in a single vehicle.

In the Guardian approach, the human driver maintains vehicle control, and the automated driving system operates in the background, monitoring for potential crash situations. It can intervene to protect vehicle occupants when needed.

Chauffeur is TRI’s version of full vehicle autonomy where all occupants are passengers as the car drives itself. Both approaches use the same technology stack of sensors and cameras. TRI’s vision is to offer drivers a choice by making vehicles safer and driving both more fun and convenient. 

TRI will use GoMentum Station for further testing of Platform 2.1, which includes a new high-fidelity LIDAR system that provides a longer sensing range, a much denser point cloud to better detect positions of three-dimensional objects, and a field of view that is dynamically configurable. With proximity to TRI research headquarters located in Los Altos, Calif., GoMentum Station augments TRI’s public road testing with testing of extreme driving events that are unsafe to conduct on public roads.