Toyota has been working for a Supra model car that can drift autonomously under the roof of Toyota Research Institute (TRI) for a long time.
The Japanese automobile giant, which wants to break new ground in the world, finally achieved its goal and shared the images of its car drifting without a pilot with the whole world.
Supra can adjust glide lines without the need for a pilot
The vehicle used by the Toyota Research Institute for the autonomous drift test was a Supra with very similar equipment to the vehicles used in Formula Drift races. This Supra, which has a wider body, wider steering angle and a more powerful engine than normal Supras, was able to drift like a drift pilot thanks to its advanced software.
Toyota engineers worked with Stanford University’s Dynamic Design lab and drift legend Ken Gushi to make the car as successful as a pilot. Equipped with level 5 autonomous driving as a result of long studies, Supra successfully followed the apex lines by adjusting its slip angles on the 3.2 kilometer race track.
The reason behind Toyota’s autonomous drift vehicle is related to safety.
Toyota Research Institute engineers developed such a vehicle to make autonomous driving much safer for drivers. Jonathan Goh, one of the senior engineers, uses the following statements about the self-driving Supra; “Professional drivers know how to control the car on wet or slippery roads, but most of us are not professional drivers. That’s why TRI designs vehicles that can identify obstacles and drift autonomously in different conditions.”
The Supra, which we see in the video, has a computer-controlled steering wheel, sequential gearbox and independent braking system. In the software prepared based on Ken Gushi’s experience, the computer can calculate the slip angle perfectly by recalculating the trajectory every 50 seconds.
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