Credit: REUTERS/KIM KYUNG-HOONRewrites after confirmation from company
TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - James Kuffner, the chief executive of Toyota Motor's 7203.T autonomous driving technology unit Woven by Toyota, will step down from his post effective Oct. 1, the subsidiary said in a statement on Thursday.
Kuffner will be appointed a senior fellow at Toyota Motor, the world's biggest automaker by sales, from October, the statement said.
Kuffner had joined the Toyota Research Institute in 2016 and later served as the automaker's chief digital officer and as a board member. He left the board in June.
He will be replaced by Hajime Kumabe as chief executive of Woven by Toyota, pending approval by the unit's board, the statement said.
Kumabe is currently serving as top executive of J-QuAD Dynamics, an automated driving-focused firm set up in April 2019 by Denso 6902.T, Aisin 7259.T and two other suppliers to Toyota.
Toyota established Woven Planet in 2021 to invest in and develop mobility with artificial intelligence.
The unit is also developing an automotive software platform, Arene, and building a testing site named Woven City for mobility-related systems and services in Shizuoka prefecture, west of Tokyo.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Edmund Klamann)
((daniel.leussink@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @danielleussink;))
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