Mission & Values
Mission
We Overtake Tesla
Turing’s mission is captured in deliberately provocative words: “We Overtake Tesla.”
This is not mere competitive posturing. It is a declaration of resolve to redefine Japan’s mobility industry—and AI technology itself—at a global standard.
At a time when the world still hesitated, Turing chose a different path: “All-in on End-to-End from Day 1.” This approach—where camera images as sole input feed directly into a single neural network making driving decisions—fundamentally diverges from the traditional LiDAR and HD-map-dependent approach.
Today, the global trend is unambiguous: End-to-End is the direction. Tokyo30—our proof that a vehicle can run for over 30 minutes on public Tokyo roads without human intervention—demonstrates that this mission is not a slogan but an approaching reality.
At Turing, a question echoes through daily development:
“Will this truly overtake Tesla?”
Model performance, data quality, compute infrastructure, on-vehicle system integration—all are evaluated against this standard. The question itself is our decision-making criterion and organizational north star.
If a startup’s mission becomes language everyone can agree on, it says nothing. “Using AI to improve the world,” “Making mobility convenient”—these are all correct, yet they leave ambiguous: How far do we go? Where do we compromise?
Genuine innovation has always emerged from contentious ground.
That’s why Turing deliberately sets an ambitious, divisive goal:
“We Overtake Tesla.”
Value
The Bitter Lesson
“Scaling through compute power, not heuristic tweaking, ultimately wins. Choose fundamentally correct solutions at scale.”
This principle derives from “The Bitter Lesson,” an influential essay by Rich Sutton—pioneer of reinforcement learning and 2024 Turing Award recipient.
Sutton’s essay captures a crucial lesson in AI progress: applying human knowledge and hand-crafted rules (heuristic approaches) is consistently outpaced by general-purpose algorithms with massive compute resources. Turing has upheld this principle since Day 1.
Less is More
“Code, modules, meetings—fewer is better, assuming equal output. Always ask: Can we cut more? Eliminate complexity. Focus only on essential value.”
This phrase, attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the legendary German architect, has entered many organizations’ thinking.
Left unchecked, organizations accumulate code, rules, and meetings endlessly. Adding something means limiting future possibilities. That’s why Turing values subtraction over addition. Always asking “What can we cut?” is our operating principle.
Stick the Marshmallow
“Perfect plans pale next to acting first and shaping reality. Don’t underestimate the cost of hesitation and delay. Iterate through execution and improvement.”
The “Marshmallow Challenge” is a well-known team-building exercise: build the tallest tower using one marshmallow, pasta, tape, and string, then place the marshmallow on top. Surprisingly, kindergarteners consistently outbuild MBA students. While adults debate design, children place the marshmallow, watch it fall, and improve—repeatedly.
In uncertain domains, the move is: “Stick the marshmallow first (prototype it, run it, test it).” The feedback you get in that instant becomes your strongest learning material.
Teams: Small, Fast, Evolving
“Minimize team size always. Promote and rotate leadership as needed. Amid rapid change, maintain respect, sustain dialogue, and move as one.”
Turing has undergone countless organizational changes and leadership rotations. Shifts in development strategy, competitive dynamics, insights earned through iteration, emerging talent—these all drive reorganization. At Turing, organizational structure and leadership roles are not fixed but intentionally fluid.
We maintain teams small enough that a single leader can see every face and move in unspoken sync. Roles are not fixed entitlements—we actively rotate to the right leader for each phase, continuously refreshing the organization.
And Still, Move Forward
“Beyond the friction and pain of change, don’t retreat. Accept pain as fuel for growth, and keep moving forward.”
Since our founding, Turing has made countless decisions that were genuinely hard.
Emotional pain. The fear of being resented. We do not defer decisions simply to avoid discomfort. Even when the right answer is unclear, we decide and move forward. That is Turing’s style.
Reference articles
- Note article: “The Misconception of ‘We Overtake Tesla’”
- Note article: “Turing Updated Its Guiding Principles (Values)”
