No Driver? No Problem. These Toyota Supras are Programed to Drift

Future crash avoidance systems could include the skills of a pro-level drifter.

Photo by: Toyota

By: Anthony Alaniz

Jul 24, 2024 at 11:00am ET

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Toyota successfully drifting two autonomous Supras in tandem isn't practice for some new racing series. Toyota Research Institute and Stanford Engineering are working to make driving safer by testing new crash avoidance systems that could put the skills of a pro-level drifter in future cars to help drivers recover from skids and slides.

The two cars weren't programmed the same, but each Supra had the computers and sensors to control the steering, throttle, and brakes. TRI coded the lead car to perform a drift along a desired path while Stanford programmed the chase car to adapt dynamically to the lead vehicle to drift next to it without colliding, and it worked.

"This new technology can kick in precisely in time to safeguard a driver and manage a loss of control, just as an expert drifter would," said Avinash Balachandran, vice president of TRI's Human Interactive Driving division.

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Most drivers lack the skills to recover a skidding or sliding car safely. They often only have a split second to react correctly, and having an autonomous system capable of controlling a vehicle through a drift as the driver loses control could help save lives. Researchers are already using what they're learning from the project to create new ways of controlling cars on ice.

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Modern cars are safer than they've ever been, and technology is a big reason why. Today's vehicles are self-aware and reactive to the world around them, capable of intervening before a driver is even aware of an imminent collision. But they're far from perfect. Toyota and Stanford's drift cars help close those gaps, but we're still years away from a world full of autonomous vehicles.