Whether it’s creating “smart materials” that can help cars resist insect splatter or improving vehicle communication systems, Toyota leads the way in anticipating and engineering the cars of tomorrow for today.
The Toyota Technical Center, located in Ann Arbor and Saline, Michigan, recently held their annual patent awards ceremony to honor last year’s patent recipients. Two team members each received their 20th patent in 2012, Minjuan Zhang, manager, Toyota Research Institute NA (TRINA) and Charan Lota, manager, electronic systems at Toyota Technical Center (TTC).
“Toyota is a great place to be an inventor,” said Ms. Zhang. “Everyone here is passionate about improving the customer’s experience and it shows in the product.”
“You can tell a lot about a company by the new ideas they generate,” said Mr. Lota. “And, what these patents show about Toyota is that we are never going to stop trying to make better cars.”