(Telecompaper) Toyota will be investing USD 50 million into artificial intelligence and establish labs in partnership with Stanford and MIT, Recode reported. The company said it has hired DARPA official Gill Pratt to lead the new five-year effort to boost its artificial intelligence and autonomous driving efforts. Toyota officials downplayed concerns that they were trailing behind Google and other carmakers in autonomous driving and said the company already has some key technologies in place after spending 20 years working in the field. The company said that Google is focused on completely replacing the driver, while Toyota is looking at ways to take the load off the driver while maintaining the fun of the experience. MIT artificial intelligence lab director Daniela Rus said added intelligence could allow a car to tell when you are having a bad day and put on your favourite song, tell you when you need to pick up milk at the store or remind you when you haven't called your parents. It could even take over the driving on a straight stretch of road so you can concentrate on talking to them.Rus will run the joint work with Toyota at MIT, while Fei-Fei Li, head of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, will head up joint work at her campus.