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Toyota Supra Autonomous Drifting Car - Tech to Safer Vehicles

The future of autonomous vehicles is starting to take shape with the new Toyota Supra as one of the most anticipated cars of the year. Toyota Supra autonomous drifting car features a Supra body and an autonomous driving guardian system as shown in this video. This functionality is an excellent step towards driverless cars that are safer than many human drivers. It can assess the driving conditions and make independent decisions in real-time, rather than just following a set of programmed rules.

Engineers adopted a GR Supra to resemble a Formula Drift pro vehicle to make the self-drifting GR Supra a reality. It has a broader body package, a more comprehensive angle kit, and more horsepower than a regular Supra. The steering, throttle, and clutch displacement are all computer-controlled. Individual, per-wheel braking control gives the computer the most granular inputs available, providing the Supra more control over the car.

The Guardian technology, according to Toyota, will enhance rather than replace a driver’s abilities. The system allows you to drive the car as you desire, but if you get into danger, such as failing to respond quickly to an object ahead of you or falling asleep while driving, the system can take over.

 

TRI researchers have designed a car to navigate obstacles on a closed track automatically, as shown in their official video. TRI’s algorithms use the Supra research vehicle’s computer-controlled steering, throttle, clutch displacement, sequential transmission, and individual wheel brakes to initiate and control drifting. The suspension, engine, information, and safety systems have been updated to near Formula Drift spec to run the experiment safely under the test environment and collect data. Toyota’s test Supra exhibited its self-drifting abilities on Thunderhill Raceway’s 2-mile West track.

TRI’s Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) strategy expands the vehicle’s operational domain to the very boundaries of its performance by combining a thorough understanding of both vehicle dynamics and control architecture.

If your future Toyota or Lexus vehicle had the self-drifting capacity, it could momentarily and automatically offer you the driving ability of an expert, the ability to maintain control in difficult conditions. This capability is achieved by, among other things, TRI’s Nonlinear Model Predictive Control. According to the corporation, this technique “extends the vehicle’s operational realm beyond the point of tire saturation.” In other words, it permits you to get loose.

 

This research uses controlled, autonomous drifting to prevent accidents by negotiating unexpected barriers or dangerous road conditions such as black ice. The car calculates every new trajectory every 1/20th of a second to maintain graceful balance when drifting.

“At TRI, our goal is to leverage modern technologies to complement and amplify humans’ abilities, not to replace them,” Avinash Balachandran, senior manager of TRI’s Human Centric Driving Research, explained. “Through this effort, we’re increasing the controlled region of a car, to give everyday drivers the intuitive reactions of a professional racing car driver, allow them to tackle the most difficult circumstances and keeping people safer on the road.”

 

Car accidents kill roughly 40,000 people in the United States each year and 1.35 million people globally. While most collisions occur in everyday conditions, in some extreme cases, drivers may be forced to undertake moves that push their car near to and sometimes beyond its regular handling capabilities.

 

TRI and Stanford University’s Dynamic Design Lab set out a year ago to create a new level of active safety to prevent crashes and prevent fatalities, and injuries. Current accomplishment is another step in that quest, thanks to the help of automotive performance specialist GReddy and drift icon Ken Gushi. This technology can enhance and augment a typical driver’s ability to adapt to dangerous and extreme incidents by developing skills equivalent to those of an experienced driver, helping to keep passengers safe on the road.

 

Drifting is fun, but who cares whether a car can drive itself around a corner? So, what’s all the fuss?

“Professional drivers may opt to ‘drift’ the car around a curve when faced with wet or slick roads, but most of us are not professional drivers,” stated Jonathan Goh, TRI research scientist. “That’s why TRI is developing vehicles that can recognize impediments and drift past them independently on a closed track.”

This accomplishment takes TRI researchers closer to a complete understanding of vehicle performance. The software advancements presented calculate a whole new trajectory every 20th of a second to balance the car while rolling the circuit smoothly.

The majority of future safety technologies are uninspiring, but this one from Toyota is interesting. Many issues remain concerning how autonomous drifting might operate in the real world, such as whether it would be helpful in low-powered, front-wheel-drive vehicles. Regardless, this appears to be a promising and truly unique feature.

 

We do not even anticipate the following Toyota Supra to come equipped with accessible auto-drift assist since drifting on a confined 2-mile (3.2-km) stretch of track with designated barriers is radically different from doing so on a highway with unknown risks and traffic. However, Toyota continues to push the limits of vehicle safety technology in the future by investigating new and more effective ways for upcoming safety technologies to augment human capabilities on the roads.