Honda begins joint research in AI with Kyoto University

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Honda Research Institute Japan Co Ltd (HRI-JP), a Honda R&D subsidiary, has established a project team with the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University and began joint research this month to further accelerate research of artificial intelligence (AI).

Honda said it believes AI will be one of the technologies that will make people’s lives more enjoyable, and therefore, the company is striving to develop “AI that collaborates with people,” which 1) is capable of understanding and relating to the emotions of people, 2) accommodates and grows together with people and 3) expands the potential of people who play the leading role.

In order to accelerate the development of such new AI, HRI-JP started the project and began joint research with the Department of Intelligence Science and Technology, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University. Professor Takatsune Kumada, who specializes in psychoinformatics, will represent this project and Professor Hisashi Kashima, the department head, also will personally participate in this project, with a goal to establish a concept under which AI that collaborates with people will be broadly accepted and utilized in society.

Honda said it is envisioning a future society where mobility products and robots equipped with such AI are trusted just like family members and are useful as part of people’s everyday lives.

“We have high expectations for Honda’s creativity and technological strengths as well as HRI’s research and development capability,” said Prof Kumada. “Creating a new concept of AI and presenting it to our society is also a very attractive challenge for us in the world of academia. Moreover, we would like to explore new ways of collaboration between industry and academia through this project.”