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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Toyota Connect Expands Operations Hub In Plano, Texas

05/01/2017
Toyota Connected, a data science hub for the automaker’s global operations, is planning to double its headcount and expand its operations center at the Legacy West Urban Village, adjacent to Toyota Motor North America's new headquarters in Plano, Texas.

The expansion project includes adding 13,500 square feet to its existing 20,000-square-foot lease in the Urban Village office block in Plano.

"The amount of interest and demand in leveraging our big data to create new products and services has been incredible," said Zack Hicks, CEO of Toyota Connected, and Chief Information Officer at Toyota Motor North America. "Over the past year we've been scaling up to deliver on these new opportunities, which will significantly impact the way consumers interact with vehicles."

Toyota Connected is the data science hub for Toyota's global operations and supports a broad range of consumer, business, and government-facing initiatives. According to company officials, a year ago it was created to significantly expand Toyota's capabilities in the fields of vehicle data science, machine learning and contextual data services development throughout Toyota's global operations.

Toyota Connected has begun to develop Toyota's Mobility Services Platform, a global, cloud-based digital ecosystem that will enable a host of mobility services such as ride sharing, car sharing, remote delivery and much more. Working closely with affiliate Toyota and Lexus Financial Services, trials are also being conducted for flexible leasing and innovative payment features that will enable new and innovative uses for vehicles as the burgeoning sharing economy takes shape.

"Our mobility platform offers more functionality within the vehicle itself, but it goes way beyond that," Hicks said. "We're exploring services to manage fleets, expand ride-sharing capabilities and leverage big data to contextually and intuitively improve services for our customers to deliver an amazing experience with our Toyota and Lexus brands."

Toyota Connected is delivering these wireless services using Microsoft's cloud-based Azure platform. A division of Toyota Motor Corp., Toyota Connected provides a range of data and computer science services across Toyota's operations, including support for ongoing research into artificial intelligence and robotics and the Toyota Research Institute.

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