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Toyota Connected North America

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Toyota Connected North America
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryInformation technology
FoundedApril 2016; 8 years ago (2016-04) in Plano, Texas
Headquarters
Plano, Texas
,
USA
Key people
Christopher Yang (CEO)
Number of employees
200+ (2023)[1]
ParentToyota
Websitewww.toyotaconnected.com

Toyota Connected North America is an information technology and data science company, founded in 2016 and based in Plano, Texas.[2] Toyota Connected is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, founded in partnership with Microsoft, and is involved in research and the development of technology for in-vehicle services, telematics and other forms of artificial intelligence.[3][4]

History

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Toyota Connected North America was officially established in April 2016 in Plano, Texas, where the U.S. headquarters of Toyota Motor North America were also hosted; the company's foundation was intended as an expansion of Toyota’s partnership with Microsoft, which had originally begun in 2011 with the goal of building a platform for telematics services.[5][6] As part of the venture, Microsoft had a 5 percent stake in Toyota Connected, and provided the company with access to their cloud-based platform Azure, in order to develop or expand wireless services suited to track driving patterns, share information on traffic and weather conditions and monitoring personal health data, among other functions.[6] Toyota Connected also announced it would support research projects on artificial intelligence, while simultaneously focusing on the analysis of data from vehicle sensors and cameras to develop algorithms for self-driving cars.[2]

At inception, Toyota invested an estimated $5.5 million in Toyota Connected;[7] Zach Hicks, who had previously served as the chief digital officer at Toyota Motor North America, was appointed as the company’s first CEO.[2][7]

In July 2022, Hicks stepped down from his role as CEO and president of Toyota Connected following his retirement, being subsequently replaced by Steve Basra.[8][9] In August 2023, former Toyota Connected Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Christopher Yang was appointed as the company's new CEO, after Basra had left both the role and the company in June of the same year.[10][11]

At the 2023 New York International Auto Show, Toyota Connected debuted its proprietary generative artificial intelligence tool to produce photorealistic images through text input.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Hethcock, Bill. "Toyota Connected doubling its headcount in Plano". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Toyota forms company to make technology simpler". AP News. April 4, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  3. ^ Lippert, John (April 4, 2016). "Toyota, Microsoft Team Up on Connected-Car Technologies". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  4. ^ Niculescu, Aurel. "Toyota Has a Proprietary AI Design Tool, Leverages It for Lexus at 2023 NY Auto Show". Autoevolution. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Toyota forms Toyota Connected, builds data science on Microsoft Azure". ZDNET. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b Lienert, Paul. "Toyota expands Microsoft partnership in connected vehicle services". Reuters. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  7. ^ a b Brant, Tom. "Toyota, Microsoft Launch Connected Cars Joint Venture". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  8. ^ Preston, Quincy. "Toyota Makes Multiple Leadership, Structural Changes to Further Its Mobility Transformation as Four Execs Retire". Dallas Innovates. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  9. ^ Mast, Garrett (6 June 2022). "Toyota Announces Executive Leadership Changes". Toyota USA Newsroom. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  10. ^ Brady, Michael. "Toyota shakes up data, software leadership as it revamps EV plans". Automotive Dive. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Toyota Connected North America Announces New President/CEO, More Leadership Moves". Dallas Innovates. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  12. ^ Niculescu, Aurel. "Toyota Has a Proprietary AI Design Tool, Leverages It for Lexus at 2023 NY Auto Show". autoevolution. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
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