Toyota creates self-drifting GR Supra

Toyota has joined forces with Stanford University to create a fully autonomous version of the Toyota GR Supra that is capable of drifting without any interaction from its driver.

By building a car that's capable of sliding around on its lock-stops, Toyota says it hopes it can employ the autonomous knowhow accrued to making its road cars safer in real-world conditions.

Toyota says the skills learnt drifting make a driver safer in wet or snowy conditions. This, in turn, means an autonomous car that can balance the throttle, brakes and steering adeptly will also be better equipped in scenarios where the car suddenly loses grip.

Benefiting from previous research carried out by Stanford University, the Toyota GR Supra continues the work already carried out using a proof-of-concept autonomous system developed for none other than a DeLorean drift car.

Toyota then enhanced the students' research by consulting numerous racing drivers to analyse their drifting approach and car control before using that feedback to improve the computer's responses, allowing the autonomous software to mimic the drifters.

The self-drifting Toyota GR Supra is so good now that engineers claim it has "superhuman" abilities when it comes to pulling lurid, smoky drifts.

Part of the reason the Toyota coupe is so adept at drifting is its powerful processors can simulate hundreds of potential scenarios about a corner even before the driver reaches it, ensuring it's always ready and willing to drift – or avoid an accident on the road back in reality.

Commenting on the new self-drifting GR Supra project, Gill Pratt, head scientist of the Toyota Research Institute, said: "Every day, there are deadly vehicle crashes that result from extreme situations where most drivers would need superhuman skills to avoid a collision.

"The reality is that every driver has vulnerabilities and, to avoid a crash, they often need to make manoeuvres that are beyond their abilities.

"Through this project, Toyota Research Institute will learn from some of the most skilled drivers in the world to develop sophisticated control algorithms that amplify human driving abilities and keep people safe."

There's little chance Toyota will offer the world's most advanced drift mode any time soon, no matter how impressive the sight may be of a GR Supra pulling perfect figure of eights in the car park with no-one on board.

Instead, the knowledge accrued will be incorporated into the car-maker's next-gen autonomous driving tech in its pursuit of zero on-road casualties.