Toyota plans to have its self-driving car out by 2020. It's been testing a modified Lexus GS as well as their own hybrid self-driving vehicles on the road. In January 2016, Toyota announced the creation of the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), a 1 billion investment in AI to develop autonomous driving capabilities as well as home-care robots. Jim Adler, the first head of data at TRI, has been on the job for just two months. Before that, he was an executive at Metanautix, a data analytics platform that sold to Microsoft last year. Adler talked to TechRepublic about how Toyota is using data and simulation to teach cars to drive themselves. It sounded like so much fun and interesting, and leveraged quite a bit of my experience. How do you say "no" to working on a self-driving car and a robot?

And the battle to control and exploit that data is just getting started. On Monday, the Japanese carmaker Toyota announced a new subsidiary, called Toyota Connected, that will manage and mine the data collected from its vehicles, and the company said it would collaborate with Microsoft on the venture. The data collected and delivered might include mapping data, engine statistics, and records of driver behavior. Most immediately, this could mean updating vehicle features or patching bugs remotely. But the goal is also to develop new kinds of interfaces that predict a driver's intention.

Toyota is forming a new data science company in partnership with Microsoft that's designed to free customers "from the tyranny of technology." The company called Toyota Connected has a goal of simplifying technology so it's easier to use, perhaps even getting rid of distracting and complicated touch screens that now are in most cars and replacing them with heads-up or voice-activated technology, said Zack Hicks, the company's CEO who also is Toyota Motor America's chief information officer. "I think people are really tired of fumbling with multiple devices and having this disjointed experience," Hicks said as Toyota announced the venture Monday. Like other automakers, Toyota Connected will research connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn and anticipate a driver's habits. The company, like other automakers, will explore transmitting a driver's health data to a doctor or driving patterns to an insurance company so people are insured based on where they travel, Toyota said.

Hidden in the dashboard of most modern cars, on-board computers are quietly gathering a goldmine of data. Now Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has announced it is teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to mine some of this information. The new venture, called Toyota Connected, was announced by the car firm and will look to collect and analyse data from its cars and push towards'connected vehicles'. Toyota has announced it is teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to collect and analyse some of the valuable data being collected by its vehicles' on-board computers (stock image). Toyota Connected will focus on connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn a driver's habits According to the car firm, the goal is a move towards simplified technology, such as voice activated in-car computers.

DETROIT – Toyota is forming a new data science company in partnership with Microsoft that's designed to free customers "from the tyranny of technology." The company called Toyota Connected has a goal of simplifying technology so it's easier to use, perhaps even getting rid of distracting and complicated touch screens that now are in most cars and replacing them with heads-up or voice-activated technology, said Zack Hicks, the company's CEO, who also is Toyota Motor America's chief information officer. "I think people are really tired of fumbling with multiple devices and having this disjointed experience," Hicks said as Toyota announced the venture on Monday. Like other automakers, Toyota Connected will research connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn and anticipate a driver's habits. The company, like other automakers, will explore transmitting a driver's health data to a doctor or driving patterns to an insurance company so people are insured based on where they travel, Toyota said.

On Monday, Toyota launched Toyota Connected, Inc., a new company that will serve to expand the automaker's abilities in data center management, data science, and data management. Toyota Connected is a collaboration between Toyota and Microsoft, as the company will use Microsoft Azure to build and deliver its data-based tools and services. According to a press release announcing the company, the services provided by Toyota Connected will be "predictive, contextual, and intuitive." Zack Hicks, CEO of Toyota Connected and CIO at Toyota Motor North America, said that could mean anything: "From telematics services that learn from your habits and preferences, to use-based insurance pricing models that respond to actual driving patterns, to connected vehicle networks that can share road condition and traffic information, our goal is to deliver services that make lives easier." Toyota began restructuring back in March 2016, abandoning its function-based structure in favor of a structure that is product-based.

Toyota is forming a new data science company in partnership with Microsoft that's designed to free customers "from the tyranny of technology." The company called Toyota Connected has a goal of simplifying technology so it's easier to use, perhaps even getting rid of distracting and complicated touch screens that now are in most cars and replacing them with heads-up or voice-activated technology, said Zack Hicks, the company's CEO who also is Toyota Motor America's chief information officer. "I think people are really tired of fumbling with multiple devices and having this disjointed experience," Hicks said as Toyota announced the venture on Monday. Like other automakers, Toyota Connected will research connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn and anticipate a driver's habits. The company, like other automakers, will explore transmitting a driver's health data to a doctor or driving patterns to an insurance company so people are insured based on where they travel, Toyota said.