Toyota and Microsoft Want to Free You From In-Car 'Tyranny of Technology'

The boundaries between technology and automotive sectors continue to blur, and now Toyota and Microsoft have announced that they'll be working together to imbue cars with artificial intelligence that will, they promise, humanize the driving experience. That might sound like an odd idea given the rise of self-driving vehicles, but it's going to be a little while before our cars are fully autonomous. In the meantime, Toyota plans on making the driving experience more pleasant--and it's investing 5.5 million in technology research to try and get that to happen. That it's working with Microsoft isn't much of a surprise: The two companies have collaborated since 2011. Bloomberg reports that "the new venture will study everything from cars that help each other analyze traffic patterns to user-based insurance pricing to connecting drivers with information and security services in their homes."