A decade ago, when Toyota began hiring dozens of experts from Google and other tech giants to pivot its development efforts from hardware into artificial intelligence and software, hype and expectations were sky high.
“Times have changed, and software and data are now essential components of Toyota’s future mobility strategy,” said Gill Pratt, chief executive of the Toyota Research Institute, at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016.
In the years that followed, the world’s largest carmaker by volume nurtured ambitions to create a centralised computer system that could control everything from the transmission, brakes, steering and door locks to assisted driving and infotainment functions.