Toyota Research Institute adds Jaybridge engineering team

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Toyota Research Institute (TRI), which is pursuing artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, said it has absorbed the engineering team from Jaybridge Robotics.

The 16-member Jaybridge team will join TRI's facility in Cambridge, Mass.

While on the surface, the TRI-Jaybridge combination looks like an acquihire it isn't. Jaybridge's engineering team is joining TR, but didn't sell its business to Toyota.

Officially, Jaybridge will support customers and remain independent, but the personnel has gone to TRI. It's a bit fuzzy what happens to Jaybridge as an entity going forward.

In any case, Jaybridge Robotics launched in 2008 and has specialized in automating industrial vehicles in agriculture, mining and rail.

For TRI, Jaybridge's team brings a lot of knowhow that can apply to autonomous vehicles.

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