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Today in Tokyo, Toyota announced that it is investing US $1 billion over the next five years to establish a new R&D arm headquartered in Silicon Valley and focused on artificial intelligence and robotics. The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) plans to hire hundreds of engineers to staff a main facility in Palo Alto, Calif., near Stanford University, and a second facility located near MIT in Cambridge, Mass.
Former DARPA program manager Dr. Gill Pratt, an executive technical advisor at Toyota, was named CEO of TRI, which will begin operations in January. Toyota president Akio Toyoda said in a press conference that the company pursues innovation and new technologies "to make life better for our customers and society as a whole," adding that he wanted to "work with Gill not just because he's an amazing researcher and engineer, but because I believe his goals and motivations are the same as ours."
West Coast Soylentils, time to burnish those resumes.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SanityCheck on Tuesday November 10 2015, @06:30PM
So that buy them what? 5 devs, a PM, and a 3 letter asshat for few years.
I know I'm being facetious. But is there a particular reason they don't want to try a place that isn't so over saturated and expensive? If they offer same salary somewhere else int he country, wouldn't relocation not be a problem for the Engineers? They would get a huge boost in lifestyle, since their money would go way further. And at the same time the savings on real estate alone would make it worth it for the company.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @06:37PM
Stanford and mit are good schools. They could probably get by just being near mit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @06:38PM
Big showey cash splash, is only ment to show they mean business while they poach staff, and put actwinkle in the eye of the real workforce elsewhere.
Also - should have known ed209 would really be a toyota.
(Score: 3, Funny) by kaganar on Tuesday November 10 2015, @06:54PM
It buys them an online immigration form! [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday November 10 2015, @07:32PM
The idea is that the best talent goes to where talent is most overpriced.
The reality is that Silicon Valley is the source of more bubbles than an unwatched pot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @07:36PM
that's mean to people who work there. don't be mean. maybe you are bitter at not getting a job interview.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @09:25PM
They go there for the same reason thieves go to bank. All the major tech companies from around the world has some presence there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2015, @09:33PM
Did they reject you? Is that why you call them thieves?