On July 18, 2025, a summer memorial service to pray for traffic safety was held at Tateshina-san Seiko-ji Temple (Chino City, Nagano Prefecture), which was built in 1970 by Toyota and its affiliated sales companies.
In conjunction with the Buddhist memorial service, the “Tateshina Conference” was held, where top-level executives from Toyota, Toyota Group companies, automakers with close ties to Toyota, and non-life insurance companies gathered to discuss traffic safety.
About 80 people participated in the conference, the third in two years since 2023, and discussed measures that will lead to the “change in human behavior” required to realize a “society with zero traffic accidents.
In addition, a panel discussion featuring Mr. Tatsuya Abe, Deputy Director General of the National Police Agency, discussed how traffic accident reporting should lead to changes in human behavior and how various types of data can be utilized to improve the quality of life of people and the environment. The importance of an ecosystem that links people, vehicles, and transportation infrastructure through the use of various data was also presented.

The Tatechina Conference will hold its first meeting in 2019, and in 2023, the second meeting, five subcommittees will be established to promote specific initiatives under the framework of the conference.
Initially, about 140 people from 35 companies participated in the conference, promoting activities in collaboration with the government, local governments, and related organizations from the three aspects of vehicles, people, and transportation infrastructure (“trinity”).
By February 2025, the number of participants had increased to approximately 190 people from 39 companies, and the progress and future direction of the initiative are shared as needed. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda commented on the Tatecina Conference, “Toyota and its affiliated dealers used to be the main participants, but Subaru, Suzuki, Mazda, and other OEMs and insurance companies have been participating for some time.
It is a big step for senior management to seriously think about safety in conjunction with the grand memorial service at Seikouji Temple, even if it only lasts for an hour and a half to two hours. Traffic safety is not something that can be achieved only by building a product.
I think the consensus among the participants is that we cannot go any further unless we have a sense of ownership and seek the cooperation of many people.

While safety efforts in vehicles will continue to be an important initiative, they are approaching their limits.
In order to get closer to zero fatalities as quickly as possible, there is growing momentum for a three-pronged approach that includes infrastructure and people, in addition to vehicle performance improvements.