Toyota Research Institute and Stanford Engineering have collaborated to create a pretty nifty pair of Toyota Supras that can perform autonomous tandem drifting.

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Our researchers came together with one goal in mind – how to make driving safer. Now, utilising the latest tools in AI, we can drift two cars in tandem autonomously. It is the most complex manoeuvre 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.
– Avinash Balachandran, vice president of TRI’s human interactive driving division

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No Easy Task

Tandem drifting is used in the highest levels of the sport whereby two drivers initiate power slides and stay as close to each other’s cars as possible. The two engineering teams have managed to get to vehicles to do this simply with electronics. The end goal is to transfer the tech to improve safety- and autonomous driving systems in years to come. 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.”

Click here to watch Toyota’s earlier achievement in getting a Supra to drift on its own.

Getting Better

The two Supras were programmed with clearly defined roles. The lead car was set up to drift. The chase car to ‘sense’ whether the other was and to keep within inches. Both vehicles were on a shared WiFi network which allowed for an exchange of info such as relative positions and planned trajectories. The vehicle’s AI allowed it to learn from experience, much like an expert driver, improving with each pass. GReddy and Toyota Racing Development (TRD) modified each car’s suspension, engine, transmission, and safety systems (e.g., roll cage, fire suppression). The vehicles were built to the same specifications used in Formula Drift competitions.