USC Studies Aim to Advance Self-Driving Cars, Transform Robot "Brains" and Understand Workplace AI Use - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering

(Illustration credit: Midjourney)

Three USC faculty members will lead four research projects funded by the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), spanning humanoid robotics, autonomous driving and social barriers to artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in office environments.

The studies are part of TRI’s latest University Research Program (URP 3.0), a five-year initiative supporting 69 research projects from 31 universities across the nation.

Launched in 2026, TRI’s University Research Program aims to foster industry-academia partnerships to address some of the most pressing challenges in automated driving, robotics, human-centered AI and related fields. The initiative reflects TRI’s commitment to advancing research and collaborating with leading research institutions like USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Bringing together 88 TRI researchers and 104 faculty members, the projects are structured for deep collaboration, with each project co-led by a university researcher and a TRI co-investigator working as peers to ensure that fundamental research and real-world applications evolve together.