Naoto Okino
(joined in 2020)
Project General Manager,
Group No.4,
BEV Software PF Development Dept.,
Software PF Development Div.
Using my career thus far to move further forward
Achieving at Toyota what cannot be accomplished at an IT company
Leveraging my experience in a field that will further contribute to society
I have liked computers since I was in elementary and junior high school. Above all, my interest is in operating systems (OS). The OS runs a computer while managing various programs and devices. I even made this my research theme when I was a student. The first company I joined was an electrical machinery manufacturer. For approximately 20 years I worked there developing OSs used in various products, including household game consoles and pet robots.
On one occasion, I had an opportunity to look back on my career of 30 years, counting from the time I was a student. This made me start to think that I wanted to use the career I had built up to that point, to work in a field that would more directly serve a purpose for society. That is when Toyota’s message of connecting all cars by creating a mobility service platform caught my attention. Automobile platforms of the future have a sufficiently interesting computer science element, including the necessity to connect to the cloud while controlling several processors, each with its own architecture. Furthermore, in contrast with consumer electronics, this field requires a higher level of safety as it involves human life and can be life-threatening. This aspect also matched what I wanted to do moving forward.
Collecting valuable data as only Toyota can do
After I switched jobs, I was assigned to several projects, including developing an OS which served as an infrastructure for data processing in various vehicle models, Over the Air (OTA) and a project at Toyota Research Institute - Advanced Development (TRI-AD). In particular, the various data gathered from vehicles in motion was valuable data unique to Toyota and cannot be collected by some other IT company. This data is gaining attention inside and outside the company mainly as it has the potential to be the basis for a recurring business at Toyota amid the realization of a connected society in the future.
Clearing the path for software development going forward
At present, Toyota Otemachi is looking to bring software development, much of which has been outsourced to date, in-house. This will naturally require system engineers as well as engineers with a variety of skills and experience in the cloud, networks and security. Meanwhile, it is a fact that the company needs to establish a software development environment, which is still quite a ways off. I encourage people with engineering experience to have the fortitude to take on the challenge of using their own strength to pave the way for carrying out software development at Toyota.