Toyota To Use AI In Battery Materials Search
The Toyota Research Institute will be investing $35 million into a search for new battery materials and fuel-cell catalysts. The rather unique thing about this is that the search will utilize artificial intelligence.
The initiative will involve cooperation with MIT and Stanford University, amongst others.
Successful materials development is typically a decades-long undertaking, according to Toyota, so the aim of the new approach is that development time can be slashed notably. If that turns out to be the case, then automotive battery improvements from Toyota could possibly lead to an acceleration of electric vehicle adoption. If Toyota wants it to, that is.
The Chief Science Officer at the Toyota Research Institute, Eric Krotkov, commented: “Toyota recognizes that artificial intelligence is a vital basic technology that can be leveraged across a range of industries, and we are proud to use it to expand the boundaries of materials science. Accelerating the pace of materials discovery will help lay the groundwork for the future of clean energy and bring us even closer to achieving Toyota’s vision of reducing global average new-vehicle CO2 emissions by 90% by 2050.”
It should be remembered here that Toyota has really been taking its time with the implementation of already available tech. So, who knows how much it wants to even sell electric vehicles on the mass scale. There’s no reason, for instance, that the company has yet to offer compelling plug-in hybrid versions of the Corolla, Camry, and RAV4.
That puts Toyota in good company, though, as Ford, Honda, GM, Nissan, etc., have been taking their sweet time as well. Some will probably point to Nissan and GM’s comparatively impressive efforts to date to contradict that assertion, but consider that both of those companies have had the tech to electrify their wider lineup for several years now as well.
Now, even if large automakers are still delaying a transition to EVs (for sort of obvious reasons), they seem to know that EVs are the future. So, it would make sense for Toyota to want to become a leader in battery tech by the time that future arrives hits.
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