The Future of Safety (and Drifting?) - Autonomous

We have to agree to begin with that many of us love watching cars drifting be it on the television or at live functions but we have no idea what actually goes on in the drivers seat let alone know how to execute those insane drifts. But would you have guessed that when applied into the right situation those drift technique could safe your life? That is exactly what the geniuses at Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has been working on for the last couple of years and results has been encouraging.   

Autonomous driving is a term that most of us are quite used to by now as some newer vehicles being rolled out has it up-to a certain degree/level. We have also heard and seen videos of TESLA's capable of avoiding collisions via autonomous avoidance. However what TRI is working on completely rewrites this field by throwing in drifting as an evasive maneuver which is pretty ingenious.   

The test mule for this whole project was the new Supra which has been fully reworked and developed in collaboration with tuning house GREDDY and professional drifter KEN GUSHI. The vehicle is capable of performing individual wheel braking, steering angle adjustment, gear shifts, throttle and clutch modulation all via an onboard computer system. Whilst the development focus is on the autonomous aspect, human element is not neglected as the core focus is to elevate 'human centric intelligent driving' which is to keep drivers in control and not remove them from the picture.   

According to Jonathan Goh, TRI Research Scientist, the software developed for this project is able to compute new trajectory every 20-seconds in any situations resulting in a vehicle capable of maneuvering at the limit of its handling while still capable of taking into consideration all present obstacle. 

For the time being according to CARSCOOP this technology works off highly precise GPS coordinates, however works are on the way to make this technology for the mass production market. Another factor being considered is the human reaction element as most of us would not react calmly when our vehicle goes into defensive drift maneuvers mode to avoid potential hazard.

On the upside, having this technology for the masses would greatly reduce the current rising vehicle fatality numbers which was last reported to be 1.35 million worldwide. What do you think of this? Would you consider a vehicle for having this extra safety feature?

What we would like to know is how would this technology be applied to vehicle that are front wheel drive or 4-wheel drive? and could this be the future of the drifting?