Toyota Motor is spending $1 billion to form a research institute focused on the artificial intelligence and robotics technology it needs to make cars that can overcome driver errors and reduce traffic fatalities. Toyota Research Institute Inc. will pitch in on the safety systems the automaker is developing to curtail car accidents. The company will also work toward making it easier for elderly drivers to hang onto their keys in aging countries including Japan and the United States, Toyota's biggest markets.

Japanese car makers have been pursuing fully autonomous cars under more conservative time frames than Google or Tesla Motors. With Toyota President and racing enthusiast Akio Toyoda by his side, the newly-formed R&D unit's chief executive said competing to put autonomous cars on the road will be an endurance contest.

Toyota Research Institute will start operations in January.

Toyota last month offered reporters test drives in a concept car, a modified Lexus GS sedan that can enter public expressways, switch lanes and steer to the off ramp, all while picking spots to speed up or slow down based on the surrounding traffic. The company said it aims to introduce similar cars with automated highway driving by around 2020.

South Korea’s flagship automaker Hyundai Motor Co. is also set to offer new autonomous driving features by unveiling its Highway Driving Assist (HDA) system. These features will be available on the new Equus full-size luxury sedan 'EQ900' which is slated for launch in December.

The EQ900 allows partially-automated driving on expressways, said a Hyundai Motor official on Sunday.

The HDA functions allow the new Equus to maintain a safe distance from the car ahead. The driver can set the distance in three stages.