AI-powered research demonstrates two vehicles avoiding crashing in dynamic conditions.
Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Stanford Engineering announced 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.
“Our researchers came together with one goal in mind – how to make driving safer,” said Avinash Balachandran, vice president of TRI’s Human Interactive Driving division. “Now, utilizing the latest tools in AI, we can drift two cars in tandem autonomously. It is the most complex maneuver in motorsports, and reaching this milestone with autonomy means we can control cars dynamically at the extremes. This has far-reaching implications for building advanced safety systems into future automobiles.”
“The physics of drifting are actually similar to what a car might experience on snow or ice,” said Chris Gerdes, professor of mechanical engineering and co-director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS). “What we have learned from this autonomous drifting project has already led to new techniques for controlling automated vehicles safely on ice.”
In an autonomous tandem drifting sequence, two vehicles—a lead car and a chase car—navigate a course at times within inches of each other while operating at the edge of control. The team used modern techniques to build the vehicle’s AI, including a neural network tire model that allowed it to learn from experience, much like an expert driver.
“The track conditions can change dramatically over a few minutes when the sun goes down,” said Gerdes. “The AI we developed for this project learns from every trip we have taken to the track to handle this variation.”
Car crashes result in more than 40,000 fatalities in the US and about 1.35 million fatalities worldwide every year. Many of these incidents are due to a loss of vehicle control in sudden, dynamic situations. Autonomy holds tremendous promise for assisting drivers to react correctly.
“When your car begins to skid or slide, you rely solely on your driving skills to avoid colliding with another vehicle, tree, or obstacle. An average driver struggles to manage these extreme circumstances, and a split second can mean the difference between life and death,” added Balachandran. “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.”
“Doing what has never been done before truly shows what is possible,” added Gerdes. “If we can do this, just imagine what we can do to make cars safer.”