Toyota's autonomous drifting Supra paves the way for safer cars.

A team from Toyota Motor Corporation and the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has developed a Supra that can perform perfect drifts on its own.

While it is certainly cool to see the car in action, the researchers' goal is a serious one. Researchers aim to develop self-driving systems that can drive in extreme conditions, which could be beneficial for the next generation of stability control systems.

Suppose you hit black ice while driving and your car skids. At this point, the stability control system will help get the car back on track.

Toyota states that the system under development could also be used to avoid sudden obstacles. For example, if an accident suddenly occurs ahead of the car while driving, the car can perform an evasive maneuver. This is because the system is designed to allow the vehicle to skid, but in a controllable manner, and to travel beyond the limits of its traction.

The Supra drift car the researchers are using has computer-controlled steering, throttle, gear change, and brakes on each wheel. The automated driving system that controls all of this was developed with the help of professional drivers, including drifting legend Gushiken, and calculates the trajectory 20 times per second.

Could such a system ever become commercially available? While Toyota is developing a driverless self-driving system, the company is also developing a system that could actually appeal to enthusiasts: called "Guardian," it allows you to drive the car the way you want, but it may not respond in time to obstacles ahead. However, if a problem occurs, such as not responding in time to an obstacle ahead or falling asleep at the wheel, the system can take over driving if necessary.

Toyota stated that Guardian's system amplifies the driver's capabilities, not replaces them.

"TRI's goal is to use advanced technology to augment and amplify humans, not replace them," Avinash Balachandran, senior manager of TRI's human-centric driving research team, said in a statement. Through this project, we are expanding the realm of control available to vehicles with the goal of giving the average driver the instinctive reflexes of a professional racing driver, enabling them to handle the most challenging emergency situations, and keeping people safer on the road."