Founders · #12 of 111
Issei Yamamoto 山本一成
Co-founder & CEO, Turing
Verified 2026-10-17: Company site / press release
Background
Creator of the shogi AI Ponanza, the first to beat a reigning Meijin, and developer of Shogi Wars. Source
Public appearances
| 2026 Interview | Part 1: The shogi-AI pioneer takes on fully autonomous driving (MLIT Grasp) 【前編】将棋界に革命を起こした天才が 完全自動運転という巨大な壁に挑む Yamamoto explains why he left shogi AI for self-driving: a hard technical problem that is also certain to be a large business. He argues few Japanese startups take technology risk, and Turing focuses on that single issue. Summary by The Raising Sun. From the article text (excerpt). |
| 2026 Interview | Part 2: The self-driving society is near (MLIT Grasp) 【後編】自動運転社会がまもなく到来。世界を変える奇跡を、日本から Covers Turing's end-to-end "AI driver", its approach to safety and the steps to mass-production cars. Yamamoto says the main bottleneck is still technology, not business. Summary by The Raising Sun. From the article text (excerpt). |
| 2026-08-25 Interview | Interview: Turing CEO sees progress in central Tokyo driving (Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun) 〈インタビュー〉チューリング、山本一成CEO 都心への対応にも手応え Yamamoto reports progress on urban driving and a target of shipping in production vehicles around FY2029. He stresses that understanding cars matters for the engineers. Most of the article is paywalled. Summary by The Raising Sun. From the free excerpt only. |
| 2023-08-08 Podcast | B-side: Trust AI or people? Three scenarios for the car industry (Inside Vision) 【B面】AIを信じるか、人に頼るか。自動車の未来シナリオは3つ。 Yamamoto sets out three futures: full autonomy rewriting the industry, partial EV/autonomy shaped by politics, or Toyota staying on top. He openly says the last would be hard for Turing. Summary by The Raising Sun. From the episode page summary. |