Toyota Times Business is a program that explains and discusses mobility-related topics. In the first episode of the new year, the theme is traffic safety. What does society need to do to eliminate accidents?
What needs to be done to realize zero traffic accidents?
On this episode of Toyota Times Business, the theme is traffic safety. Studio guests discuss the issues that society as a whole must address in order to eliminate tragic accidents.
The commentators are automotive journalist Naoto Ikeda, journalist and non-fiction author Mika Yanagihara, who covers traffic accidents and legal issues, and Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima.
Eliminating accidents is Toyota’s ultimate goal as a carmaker. To that end, the company has been developing and implementing safety technologies. But these efforts only matter if the technology is widely implemented.
Since 2019, the Tateshina Meeting has been held in Chino City, Nagano Prefecture (2025 marks its third meeting), bringing together automakers, suppliers, and insurance companies from across industries to deepen discussions on safety.
Toyota and the Tateshina Meeting focus on preventing accidents through a three-pronged approach:
(1) developing safer vehicles,
(2) continuing education for people, including drivers and pedestrians, and
(3) improving the traffic environment, such as traffic signals and roads.
This approach integrates cars, people, and infrastructure as a single system for safety.
Today’s episode looks at demonstration trials in China and Japan that put this three-pronged approach into practice.
See how cameras and other roadside devices share information with vehicles, enabling automatic control when a car changes lanes or a pedestrian enters the roadway.
In the second half of the program, we feature a Subaru trial on snowy roads in Hokkaido. Toyota also joined the effort as a likeminded partner with a shared commitment to traffic safety, creating cooperation that transcended corporate boundaries.
Vice President Nakajima says the systems introduced in this episode are not technically difficult to realize, but their social implementation requires cooperation with governments and other industries. He also invites anyone who shares the goal of a world without traffic accidents to get in touch.
As the first Toyota Times Business episode of 2026, we invite you to watch through to the end as we look toward a safe and secure, accident-free year ahead.