Automotive interior components supplier and filter manufacturer Toyota Boshoku is using AI across its design and manufacturing operations. But while the technology is reshaping product development and manufacturing, it has also highlighted the limits of automation in areas where human knowledge and judgement remain difficult to replace.
Following the enterprise tech event LEAP East 2026, Richard Chung, Executive Advisor at Toyota Boshoku, spoke with Frontier Enterprise about the company’s approach to AI, software’s growing role in automotive interiors, and why some aspects of engineering and design continue to rely on human expertise.
Where is AI delivering the most practical value within Toyota Boshoku today?
For us, the single most dramatic impact of AI is occurring at the very beginning of our pipeline — the design and conceptualisation phase. Historically, the journey from an original concept sketch to a high-fidelity rendering, and finally into an engineering-ready 3D digital data model, was a meticulous, laborious, and linear process that typically took anywhere from three to six months.
By integrating several advanced AI tools into our workflow, we have streamlined this cycle. Our designers can now rapidly iterate, visualise, and convert complex conceptual spaces into 3D data formats in less than a month. This six-fold acceleration doesn’t just save time; it allows us to present more mature concepts aligned with our corporate strategy, Interior Space Creator, to our OEM customers much earlier in the design process. It also allows us to deploy our design talent more effectively, focusing on concept creation rather than repetitive manual work that does not add value.
Which business functions have been the most difficult to transform digitally?
The most profound challenge we face isn’t automating processes, but capturing, accumulating, and transferring expert knowledge. Our competitive edge has always been our takumi craftsmanship and engineering experience. Right now, our most experienced experts are retiring faster than traditional systems can absorb their nuanced, lifelong knowledge.
AI is excellent at recognising patterns in data, but it still struggles to independently generate designs or engineer complex products that surpass the intuition of a 30-year veteran. The truly difficult part of digital transformation is building systems that can bridge this gap by capturing that tacit expertise and incorporating it into digital tools, so younger engineers can learn from it, adapt it, and apply it before institutional knowledge walks out the door.
How has software changed the role of automotive suppliers?
Software has fundamentally changed our role. While we continue to supply automotive interior components such as seats and door trims, it has also enabled us to work more proactively with our customers in line with our Interior Space Creator strategy.
In the modern mobility ecosystem, the vehicle interior is becoming a more intelligent, adaptive environment. Software allows physical components to communicate with the vehicle and its occupants, improving how people interact with the cabin. Whether it is supporting the travel experience or coordinating features — such as lighting, HMI, entertainment, and climate based on a passenger’s biometric state — software requires us to design the physical space and the digital architecture simultaneously. We now write the software that defines both the functional and emotional aspects of the in-cabin experience.
Which technology initiatives have delivered the strongest business outcomes in recent years?
Beyond accelerating our design process, our strongest outcomes have come from the monozukuri (manufacturing) floor through smart automation. We have successfully deployed AI-based visual inspection systems within the assembly process to detect microscopic product defects in real time, helping to ensure quality before a component leaves the production line.
At the same time, we have introduced advanced robotics to handle physically demanding, repetitive tasks, improving workplace ergonomics and safety. Automated guided vehicles are also now used across our global manufacturing plants. By automating the transportation of parts within our facilities, they have reduced the need for manual material handling, allowing team members to focus on assembly and quality assurance tasks, boosting our operational efficiency.
What remains difficult to automate despite advances in AI?
While AI can optimise a manufacturing sequence or rapidly generate a 3D model from a sketch, creative concept generation, true human empathy, and sensory evaluation cannot be automated.
When we conceptualise new interior spaces for the future, we are creating premium, human-centric spaces. AI cannot feel the subtle tension of a leather trim cover, judge the comfort of a particular seating posture, or understand the psychological nuances of a passenger’s mood during a long commute. AI is a capable co-pilot that eliminates mundane, time-consuming tasks, but the overall direction, design and HMI decisions, and the final evaluation of quality must always be guided by people.
