Charan Lota, Group Vice President – Connected Technologies, Toyota Motor North America

Charan Lota is group vice president & executive chief engineer, Connected Technologies at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA).  In his role, Lota oversees the design, development and implementation of the company’s connected car ecosystem and is driving transformational change through cutting edge technology, data and connectivity.  Lota specifically led the concept planning, design, evaluation and launch of Lexus Interface as well as the Toyota Multimedia System for the North American region.  These systems debuted on the 22MY Lexus NX and 22MY Toyota Tundra, respectively.

Since beginning his career at Toyota in 2000, Lota has served in several positions across Toyota’s North America operations in Michigan as well as in Texas.  Lota has worked across vehicle cockpit design, cockpit electronics development and since 2017 in Connected Technologies.   Lota was the first multimedia chief engineer in Toyota outside of Japan.

Throughout his time at Toyota, Lota has received over 35 design patents in various domains.   In 2018, Design News recognized Lota as one of 14 engineers who are transforming the automotive industry.

Lota holds a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Dearborn and completed the University of Michigan Ross School of Business Strategic Leaders Program in 2016.