Japanese car firm Toyota has said it aims to deliver smart cars with artificial intelligence within the next five years.

According to Gill Pratt, head of the Toyota Research Institute, the firm is looking to boost car safety by enabling vehicles to anticipate and avoid potential accident situations using AI.

Toyota has said the institute will spend $1 billion (£682 million) over the next five years, as competition to develop self-driving cars intensifies.

Japanese car firm Toyota has said it aims to deliver smart cars with artificial intelligence within the next five years. Head of head of the Toyota Research Institute - the car maker's advanced research division - said the firm is looking to boost car safety by enabling vehicles to anticipate and avoid potential accidents using AI

TOYOTA'S AI PLANS The Japanese car manufacturer announced last year it would invest $1 billion (£682 million) over the next five years. Toyota Research Institute - the car maker's advanced research division - has said the car maker is looking to boost safety by enabling vehicles to anticipate and avoid potential accident situations using artificial intelligence. Advertisement

Earlier this month, rival Honda said it was setting up a new research body which would focus on artificial intelligence, joining other global automakers which are investing in robotics research, including Ford and Volkswagen AG.

'Some of the things that are in car safety, which is a near-term priority, I'm very confident that we will have some advances come out during the next five years,' Pratt told reporters.

The concept of allowing vehicles to think, act and take some control from drivers to perform evasive manoeuvres forms a key platform of Toyota's efforts to produce a car which can drive automatically on highways by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

While currently driver assistance systems largely use image sensors to avoid obstacles including vehicles and pedestrians within the car's lane, Pratt said TRI was looking at AI solutions to enable 'the car to be evasive beyond the one lane'.

According to Gill Pratt (pictured), head of the Toyota's advanced research division, the car firm is looking to boost safety by enabling vehicles to anticipate and avoid potential accident situations using AI

'The intelligence of the car would figure out a plan for evasive action ... Essentially (it would) be like a guardian angel, pushing on the accelerators, pushing on the steering wheel, pushing on the brake in parallel with you.'

As Japanese automakers race against technology companies to develop automated vehicles, they are also grappling with a rapidly greying society, which puts future demand for private vehicle ownership at risk.

Mr Pratt said he saw the possibility that Toyota may one day become a maker of robots to help the elderly.

Asked of the potential for Toyota to produce robots for use in the home, he said: 'That's part of what we're exploring at TRI.'

Japanese automakers are racing against technology companies to develop automated vehicles, but are also having to deal with an ageing population, which may impact on future demand for cars (pictured is Toyota's manufacturing plant in Takaoka)

Mr Pratt declined to comment on a media report earlier this month that Toyota is in talks with Google's parent company Alphabet to acquire Boston Dynamics and Schafts, both of which are robotics divisions of the technology company.

Earlier this year, Toyota announced it is teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to collect and analyse valuable data from its vehicles.

Toyota Connected will be based in Plano, Texas, and will use Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform to collect and analyse data from cars.

The new venture will focus on connecting cars to each other and to homes, as well as telematics features that learn and anticipate a driver's habits.

By linking with other vehicles on the road, cars could speak to each other to provide real-time updates on traffic conditions.