July 29, 2025 – According to Bloomberg, within Toyota Motor Corporation, some employees are expressing concerns as the company navigates an era where automotive software holds equal significance to hardware.
For both internal staff and external observers eager to see Toyota accelerate its transformation, the company’s progress appears to be lagging. Kani Munidasa, CEO of Code Crysalis, a firm collaborating with Toyota to enhance its employees’ digital skills through Silicon Valley-style coding bootcamps, commented, “Toyota acknowledges the importance of software, but the pace of advancement remains sluggish.”
Several anonymous former employees revealed to Bloomberg that Toyota’s work environment is often characterized by a plethora of rules and an emphasis on harmony, which tends to stifle innovation. One ex-employee, who joined Toyota with a keen interest in autonomous driving, found themselves stuck in monotonous quality control tasks for years.
Toyota’s global success and its status as Japan’s largest corporation have created a self-reinforcing inertia. When discussions about job-hopping or resigning arise among Toyota employees, a common response is often, “Why would you leave?”
It’s not just Toyota facing such challenges in Japan. Despite the country’s leading position in high-tech fields like industrial robotics, its corporate culture still clings to outdated technologies such as fax machines. The Japanese government has also issued warnings, stating that unless the nation overcomes the “digital divide,” it will struggle to keep pace with other advanced economies.
