https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/02/toyota-creates-a-new-advanced-research-company-fo-focus-on-self-driving/

Toyota has an existing think tank, research organization and long-term development wing courtesy of Toyota Research Institute (TRI), but now it’s expanding TRI with a new sub-company of its own: Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development (TRI-AD), which I have to assume was so named just so they could have the really cool acronym.

The new company will elevate TRI CTO James Kuffner to TRI-AD CEO, with TRI CEO Gil Pratt acting as Chairman of the Board for the new entity. Its focus will be specifically on advanced development of automated driving technology, whereas TRI’s mandate is more broad, and includes material science work towards advanced battery tech as well as robotics work, in addition to self-driving research.