Toyota announces plan to set up Silicon Valley artificial intelligence research unit

Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it will set up a research & development company with a focus on artificial intelligence technologies in Silicon Valley, and plans to invest $1 billion over the next five yeas.

The new firm, Toyota Research Institute, will be led by CEO Gill Pratt, Toyota's executive technical advisor, and will have a second facility near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, it also said.

(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano)