Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Stanford Engineering have demonstrated what they say is “a world first” in driving research: autonomously drifting two cars in tandem.
For nearly seven years, the teams have collaborated on research to make driving safer. The experiments automate a motorsports maneuver called “drifting”, where a driver precisely controls a vehicle’s direction after breaking traction by spinning the rear tires – a skill transferable to recovering from a slide on snow or ice.
By adding a second car drifting in tandem, the teams have now more closely simulated dynamic conditions where cars must respond quickly to other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. [Read more…] about Toyota Research Institute and Stanford Engineering achieve ‘world’s first’ fully autonomous tandem drift sequence