TOYOTA CITY, Japan (July 20, 2018)—Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is to absorb the research and development functions of its wholly owned subsidiary, Toyota InfoTechnology Center (ITC Japan) into its in-house Connected Company by March 2019. It also plans to absorb the research and development functions of Toyota InfoTechnology Center, U.S.A. (ITC U.S.A.), a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Japan, into Toyota Motor North America (TMNA).

As the development of automated driving technologies and the roll-out of businesses related to mobility services continues to gain momentum, this decision fits with TMC’s drive to speed up the development and application of ever-better services based on connected technologies to meet the needs of customers more closely.

TMC established ITC Japan and ITC U.S.A. in partnership with other related companies in 2001 with the objective of constructing a new value chain. The new companies were tasked with identifying innovative IT technology trends and market needs in the network business field. Both companies specialize in  applied research related to communication and information processing, such as large-scale data processing and high-speed network technologies, which are an essential part of our efforts to enhance services, primarily for connected vehicles.

By absorbing the functions of these companies, TMC aims to create a unified organization that integrates applied research with service and product application, roles that are currently divided between ITC Japan, ITC U.S.A., and TMC. As a result, TMC intends to further build an efficient and flexible system that speeds up the development process and facilitates the rapid provision of ever-better mobility services in line with customer needs.

Current outline of ITC Japan and ITC U.S.A.

	ITC Japan	ITC U.S.A.
Date established	January 2001	April 2001
Shareholders	Wholly owned subsidiary of TMC	Wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Japan
Capital	1,727,000,000 yen	6.1 million USD
Location	Tokyo	California
Business details	– Research into innovative cloud computing and basic software design technologies – Studies, standardization, and research related to cutting-edge communication network technologies – Research into Mobility as a Service (MaaS) technologies