The Toyota Research Institute announced today that its autonomous Supra that is capable of drifting without a driver will be offered to collectors as a Hot Wheels model.
In a short video, the model is torn out of packaging that has “Hot Wheels Boulevard” branding. That sub-brand is a collector-focused premium series of toys that was introduced in 2020.
Along with the Supra, hotwheels.fandom.com reports that an Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti, 1973 Holden Monaro GTS, 1997 Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, DMC DeLorean, a 964-generation Porsche 911, and several others have been offered as part of the Walmart-exclusive series.
Read Also: For The First Time, Toyota Has Successfully Made An Autonomous Vehicle Do A Sick Drift
Sadly, none actually drive on their own, not even this most recent Supra, which was based on a heavily modified version of a real-life self-driving car. Designed as a test vehicle to improve Toyota‘s advanced driver assistance systems, the autonomous test vehicle actually managed to drift successfully around several corners, the automaker announced in February.
Although a driverless drift is a pretty good publicity stunt, the vehicle immortalized here in die-cast form actually serves an important research function. Toyota says that, as vehicles become increasingly advanced, they’re likely to encounter scenarios in which they lose grip.
“At TRI, our goal is to use advanced technologies that augment and amplify humans, not replace them,” Avinash Balachandran, senior manager of TRI’s Human Centric Driving Research, said in February. “Through this project, we are expanding the region in which a car is controllable, with the goal of giving regular drivers the instinctual reflexes of a professional race car driver to be able to handle the most challenging emergencies and keep people safer on the road.”
Whether that’s in the snow, the rain, or even simply while taking evasive action on a dry section of road, it’s important that self-driving technology knows what to do in more than just optimal conditions. That’s why the researchers at TRI sought to learn how to control a vehicle in a low-grip situation – and chose to do it with a pretty cool car.