Toyota has announced that it will be setting up an all-new research facility in California’s Silicon Valley that will be dedicated to research and development on artificial intelligence and advanced robotics. The company said that its initial investment in the facility will be $1 billion.

The Japanese company continues to hold to its vision to be on the cutting edge of technology with regard to self-driven cars and developing artificial intelligence and robotics to assist people in all areas of their lives. Toyota will officially open a brand new facility located close to Stanford University, reports The Los Angeles Times. They will begin their research projects with an initial 200 employees. The company also projects launching a facility near the campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This huge investment will cover the course of the next five years and is in addition to the $50 million it has already invested in programs at MIT and at Stanford. Toyota’s artificial intelligence research is aimed primarily at advanced self-driving vehicles. They believe that what is out there right now is rather primitive and they look to advance far beyond the current state of the art.

Toyota is the largest automaker in the world and is already far ahead of most efforts with regard to artificial intelligence and robotics. The robot arms it uses in many of its factories are so sophisticated that they can screw in parts into the vehicles and even paint them. They have also developed robots to assist the elderly and the disabled. Their robots are able to retrieve and pick up objects as well as carry them around.

Toyota looks to support and elderly population so that they may live a better quality of life while staying in their homes and to advance vehicle technology to the point where anyone will be able to drive a vehicle safely.