James Kuffner once reprogrammed a Prius to turn it into a driverless vehicle for Google. Now, he’s a top executive at Toyota Motor Corp., charged with hacking the way it approaches the business of carmaking.
Handpicked by President Akio Toyoda, the 50-year-old tech-industry veteran’s mandate as chief digital officer is to keep the world’s No. 1 automaker on top as cars become more like computers.
The shift to electrified, autonomous vehicles is the most disruptive force sweeping the industry, with Apple Inc. and other Big Tech challengers muscling in. At stake for Toyota is a global manufacturing empire churning out more than 10 million vehicles a year. After showing the world a path away from gasoline with the Prius, Toyota is doubling down, betting billions of dollars on everything from hydrogen and battery-powered vehicles to entire cities built around self-driving cars.