Originally published at pressroom.toyota.com. Dr. Gill Pratt is the chief scientist of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and CEO of Toyota Research Institute (TRI). Toyota Motor North America No. 7 on The Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2021.
When Dr. Gill Pratt stepped into his role at Toyota in 2016, his first mandate was to explore automated driving. Through years of scientific exploration, he discovered that the best approach — in fact, the only approach that works – is to stop trying to predict the future and instead work to try and create it. So, when his team looked at the problem of automated driving scientifically, they realized there were some critically difficult unsolved problems, and a more diverse approach could reach the end goal of saving lives, sooner.
As new challenges emerge in the area of carbon reduction, Pratt is consistently working with his team to use the lessons learned from automated driving to that of carbon reduction — with the key path being diversity. Pratt believes that there is no shortcut to trying many approaches and taking large risks for the ultimate goal of reaching carbon neutrality.
“What is best for the average person, is not always best for every person. And we want to give all people around the world, from all walks of life, the best tools to solve the global problem of climate change,” says Pratt.
Toyota believes in battery electric vehicles and they are investing heavily in them. But Toyota also believes the best way to reduce more carbon emissions, sooner, is to employ diverse solutions. And by 2025, Toyota is committed to introducing 70 electrified models including 15 full battery electric vehicle models.
To hear directly from Pratt and to learn more about Toyota’s diverse approach to electrification, click here.
