Toyota Motor Corporation Uses AWS to Accelerate Engineer Onboarding

To build the software development infrastructure, TMC’s Powertrain Electronics Development Department coordinated with the teams responsible for developing vehicle control software and training software engineers. The department began to establish a development environment for software boot camps while modernizing the next-generation, model-based development environment on AWS. As the scale of software boot camps expanded, an urgent need arose to develop a stable training environment that reduces operational load.

Traditionally, participants needed to install more than 20 tools on their on-premise PCs on the first day of training, and the environment setup alone required a full day. Each training had hundreds of participants, and their assigned PCs differed in model, performance, and deployment date. Even when the environments were set up using the same guidelines, they didn’t always operate as expected. These issues required instructors to spend time on troubleshooting, increasing their workload. Obtaining and managing PCs that met TMC’s training requirements was also a major burden. The manufacturer wanted all participants to start learning from the same development environment without spending time preparing and making adjustments. TMC sought support from AWS to create an integrated, consistent, and ready-to-use cloud-based development environment suitable for large-scale software training.

Through initial consultations with the AWS team and discovery workshops, TMC explored the potential of using desktops as a service. After conducting multiple proofs of concept, the company adopted Research and Engineering Studio on AWS (RES). This is an open source, easy-to-use web-based portal for administrators to create and manage secure cloud-based research and engineering environments.

TMC chose to implement and operate RES on AWS in-house, starting by understanding the underlying AWS services. Step by step, the team explored solutions such as AWS Identity and Access Management (AWS IAM), which securely manages identities and access to AWS services and resources. The team also learned about Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), an object storage service built to retrieve virtually any amount of data from anywhere. This approach provided TMC with a fundamental understanding of cloud computing before building a full-scale environment. The AWS team provided technical advice and close assistance throughout the project.

“We chose AWS not only because of service functionality and quality but also because of the high technical skills, collaborative attitude, and personality of the AWS team,” says Tadamasa Sato, group manager of TMC’s Powertrain Electronics Development Department. “AWS experts not only answered technical questions but also put themselves in our shoes. They helped us think through our challenges and strongly supported our decision to build and operate our own environment. Their close support gave us confidence in using AWS services.”

After gaining foundational knowledge, TMC moved on to implementation. The team advanced the standardization of a virtual desktop environment by using AWS CloudFormation to speed up cloud provisioning with infrastructure as code. To simplify the customization, testing, distribution, and lifecycle management of Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), the manufacturer used Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Image Builder. This way, TMC centrally manages development tool combinations and versions, empowering trainees to select an AMI with the necessary pre-installed tools to launch a virtual desktop and start working immediately.

Using global AWS infrastructure, TMC created a scalable, flexible, manageable training environment while maintaining high security. “Using RES on AWS, participants have direct access to a unified development environment and can start learning smoothly from day one,” says Sato.

More than 200 engineers can now focus on training rather than on building environments and setting up tools. It previously took about 6 months to procure high performance PCs, but now lead times for training preparation have dropped to 1 day. Trainees can launch a virtual desktop and start using the development environment in about 10 minutes. Installation and tool configuration, which would have taken the entire first day of training, need about 2 hours of orientation, increasing the flexibility of training operations. Instructors can focus on training and supporting participants instead of responding to individual issues and making adjustments.

TMC is now building a next-generation model-based development environment in the cloud and preparing to deploy RES on AWS for product development in several departments. By using the same tools, development environments, and infrastructure for training and production, engineers can smoothly transition from training to actual development work. This consistent foundation empowers the company to maximize cloud use in both personnel and product development.