ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,528,451, issued on Jan. 20, was assigned to TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC. (Los Altos, Calif.).
"Operator drift maintenance" was invented by Avinash Balachandran (Sunnyvale, Calif.), Yan Ming Jonathan Goh (Palo Alto, Calif.), John Subosits (Menlo Park, Calif.), Michael Thompson (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Alexander R. Green (Redwood City, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Systems and methods of controlling a vehicle in a stable drift are provided. With the goal of enhancing the driver experience, the disclosed drift control systems provide an interactive drift driving experience for the driver of a vehicle. In some embodiments,...