Toyota launches collaborative safety research centre in US

Toyota is launching a new, advanced safety research centre that will collaborate with leading North American universities, hospitals, research institutions, federal agencies and other organisations on projects aimed at reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries on America's roads. Toyota's new Collaborative Safety Research Centre (CSRC) will be based at the Toyota Technical Centre (TTC) in Ann Arbor, Michigan and will involve Toyota researchers and engineers from North America and Japan. The com
May 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
1686 Toyota is launching a new, advanced safety research centre that will collaborate with leading North American universities, hospitals, research institutions, federal agencies and other organisations on projects aimed at reducing the number of traffic fatalities and injuries on America's roads.

Toyota's new Collaborative Safety Research Centre (CSRC) will be based at the Toyota Technical Centre (TTC) in Ann Arbor, Michigan and will involve Toyota researchers and engineers from North America and Japan. The company estimates that it will commit approximately US$50 million over the next five years to fund CSRC. The 5594 University of Michigan, 5593 Virginia Tech and The 5595 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute will be charter partners in the new CSRC. Toyota will also reach out broadly to other universities, hospitals and research institutions in North America to invite proposals for research into advanced automotive safety.

The collaborative research will pursue integrated ways to enhance safety, involving the vehicle, driver and traffic environment. Initial areas of focus will include reducing the risk of driver distraction and protecting the most vulnerable traffic populations, including children, teens and seniors. These populations account for approximately 30 per cent of US traffic fatalities.

In addition, CSRC will conduct in-depth analyses of available accident and human behaviour data to support stakeholders' efforts to evaluate and speed deployment of active safety systems.

Announcing the new safety initiative, Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda said, "Toyota's new safety research centre will work with leading North American universities and other partners on safety projects that benefit the entire industry. Our investment will support collaborative research aiming to reduce driver distraction and increase the safety of vehicles, drivers, passengers and pedestrians."

Chuck Gulash, a senior executive engineer at the Toyota Technical Centre, will serve as director of CSRC, reporting to Shigeki Terashi, who is a managing officer of Toyota Motor Corporation and the president of TTC.

Related Content

  • Continental developing road departure protection systems
    June 25, 2015
    International automotive supplier Continental is working on new road departure protection systems that aim to eliminate unintended road departures, which currently are not completely covered by today’s lateral guidance advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), preventing fatal accidents from occurring on highways and rural roads. According to the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, approximately 55 per cent of traffic fatalities in the US involve a vehicle crossing the roadwa
    Read More
  • TRW announces next-gen pedestrian protection system
    July 31, 2012
    TRW is announcing its next generation pedestrian protection system (PPS) - a robust and reliable system using a combination of acceleration and pressure sensing technologies to detect a pedestrian impact. "While the auto industry continues its focus on reducing injuries in single and multiple vehicle crashes and reductions in deaths and injuries have been realised in developed markets, pedestrian fatalities continue to increase globally," said Peter Lake, executive vice president of sales and business devel
    Read More
  • Cost benefit: just $25 boosts pedestrian safety in Florida
    April 29, 2019
    A relatively straightforward change to the way that pedestrians cross the street in a Florida city has made a significant safety improvement. And what’s more, it was cheap, finds David Crawford Installing a lead pedestrian interval (LPI) system at 25 central business district signalised intersections in the Florida city of Lakeland has cut numbers of incidents involving pedestrians by some 60% - at a cost of US$25 for 30 minutes' work, according to traffic operations manager Angelo Rao.
    Read More
  • Alan Turing Institute and Toyota to modernise traffic management
    June 11, 2018
    The UK’s Alan Turing Institute and the Toyota Mobility Foundation are partnering in an 18-month project which they say is intended to modernise traffic management. They will collaborate with data providers and government managers to look at the way cities could run in future. Potential outcomes include the integration of an artificial intelligence (AI) system for traffic control, a platform for interactive data manipulation to monitor traffic behaviour and developing mechanisms for fleet operators and ci
    Read More

Highlighted Content