Redundancy is perhaps technology’s greatest friend.

TCNA leverages the latest technology to help provide more than 5.5 million drivers in North America with convenience, access to emergency services and more behind the wheel.

Shravanthi Denthumdas, vice president of engineering at Toyota Connected, knows what it’s like being a woman in a leadership role in engineering, on the outside looking in. She wants to make sure more women in computer science learn from her experiences, and more importantly, grow from them.

In 2016, Toyota Motor North America consolidated its main headquarters from Southern California with several other office locations across the U.S. and moved to Plano, Texas to do the same.

You have to empathize with those who’ve endured in their educational pursuits throughout the pandemic – remote learning, remote internships, and the pitfalls of a tenuous job market following graduation. Taking life with a grain of salt and the anxiety of uncertainty is a tough way to go, but those who are persistent can find a way to succeed.

In the summer of 2019, Toyota Connected launched Drivelink to maintain the customer-to-automaker services such as Automatic Collision Notification, Emergency Assistance (via a vehicle’s “SOS” button), Stolen Vehicle Locator, Roadside Assistance, and Hands-Free Destination Assist, among other features.

In many cases, Toyota Connected is Toyota’s first stop for anonymized macro trends – Big Data – before those trends can be turned into technology. It’s no secret that data informs how cars operate and will more so in the future as they become more and more automated. For instance, a vehicle with a navigation system can see when a road turns using cellular and GPS signals.

Cars are connected with sensors that better help engineers determine what customers actually use. They’re electrified. The driver-assist functions can tackle some functions of highway driving with less cognitive load on the driver. It’s all fundamentally changing how we use cars.