In March 2024, Woven by Toyota hosted the ISO C++ Standards Committee meeting, in collaboration with the Information Technology Standards Commission of Japan. The event brought together over 200 C++ experts from around the world to discuss the future development of one of the world’s most widely used programming languages. 

C++ is a general-purpose programming language known for its performance and flexibility, making it a key tool in various industries — including automotive software development. And the ISO C++ Standards Committee is responsible for overseeing the language’s evolution, issuing, every three years, the language’s official standard, which establishes the formal definition of C++ — including syntax, semantics and core libraries — and promotes best practices, among other things.

By hosting the meeting, Woven by Toyota — on behalf of the wider Toyota family — aimed to deepen its engagement with the C++ community and help steer the evolution of the language in a direction that suits the needs of automotive developers. 

“It’s an exciting dialogue we’re creating,” said JF Bastien, distinguished engineer at Woven by Toyota and chair of the Standards Committee’s language evolution working group. “There are still areas — especially around quality and consistency — where C++, as a language, falls short, and these just so happen to be areas where Toyota excels.” 

Bastien, the organizer of the event, continued, “Through the C++ Standards Committee, we’re able to share Toyota’s expertise in these areas to help improve programming language ergonomics, built-in safety, and security — all of which are core needs of the automotive industry and safety-critical systems, more broadly.”

The meeting — and similar events — also allow Woven by Toyota to better showcase the impressive caliber of software talent within the Toyota family of companies. 

“We’re proud of the team we’ve built here at Woven by Toyota, which we think is representative of Toyota’s vibrant engineering community,” said John Absmeier, Woven by Toyota’s chief technology officer. “And we see so much value in building connections with the software community here in Japan and the wider world to foster collaboration, drive innovation and bring attention to the cutting-edge work we’re doing, especially around issues of quality, safety and scalability.”

The meeting is part of Woven by Toyota’s broader effort to engage with the software community, in support of Toyota’s transformation into a mobility company. 

“Toyota has recognized the important role that software — together with hardware — will play in its mobility future,” said Kenichi Murata, fellow at the Toyota Software Development Center. “And by engaging with the software community, we’re able to exchange ideas, explore new opportunities and collaborate on new solutions that can contribute to Toyota’s vision of the future of mobility.”

The meeting was attended in-person by 140 of the world’s top C++ experts, and remotely by a further 70 experts, representing 21 national C++ organizations. The meeting made significant advancements toward the upcoming release of the language's official ISO standard, ISO/IEC 14882 (C++ 26). Additionally, a meetup was held in Woven by Toyota’s offices, attracting nearly 200 attendees, including many from Japan’s C++ community. The recording will be posted to Woven by Toyota’s YouTube channel. 

The C++ meetup is part of an ongoing series. If you are interested in participating in future meetups — or learning more about the International C++ Standards Committee or the work of Woven by Toyota — please reach out to cpp@woven.toyota.