Former Toyota global product planner and development lead Satoshi Ogiso has left the automaker to lead its brake supplier affiliate Advics into a new era of growth. Despite being founded less than 15 years ago and only running its first factory as of five years ago, Advics is already Toyota's go-to-supplier for brakes, especially for its Prius line of vehicles. For those not in the know, Priuses and other hybrids use regenerative brakes: a high-tech piece of hardware that converts the kinetic energy of braking into electricity that in turn recharges a car's onboard battery.
Under Ogiso's leadership, the brake manufacturer is pushing to not only increase the efficiency of its trademark regenerative brakes, but also to advance braking technology in several other key areas. In terms of traditional braking, reduction of squeal noise, shorter stopping distances, lowered weight, and minimized coast friction are all goals.
The company's newest and perhaps most important priorities, however, lie in the realm of safety and comfort. Advics, for instance, recently supplied both brakes and controllers for two of Toyota's latest pre-crash auto-stop systems. To help make this transition, Advics is hiring more software engineers, and moving many of its current engineers into a newly set-up technical center.
"Such driver-assist systems are expanding step by step. The requirements are becoming stricter," Ogiso said. "We need to improve the computer system speed and brake reaction speed."
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