Global Auto Mobility had a conversation with Joe Hamanka, Senior Manager-Business Development at Yazaki North America.
Could you start by telling us about the background and history of your involvement in the image annotation business?
At Yazaki, we’ve been deeply involved in the automotive industry, developing advanced sensing technologies and mobility services. Along the way, we encountered a significant challenge—preparing high-quality annotated data for AI development.
In proof of concept (PoC) projects and new technology development, the key challenge was how to deliver high-quality annotation under tight time and resource constraints.
We decided to build an internal team that could handle even high-difficulty labeling tasks. This was all about saving time and ensuring our AI teams could focus on what really matters.
Over time, we realized that the same challenges existed for many other companies, so we began offering our expertise in image annotation as a service—helping others tackle the same challenges we had faced.
What kinds of challenges or concerns do your customers most frequently raise?
The most common concerns we hear are about not having enough time or people to handle image annotation internally, especially when resources are tight.
For growing companies, the biggest issue is that your engineering team often spends more time annotating data than actually developing the product. That’s something we’ve seen firsthand.
Additionally, there are worries about maintaining consistent quality when trying to scale up quickly or working with external providers. Clients often ask, “How do we know the quality will stay high, and how can we standardize the labeling process across the team?”
How is Yazaki addressing those challenges through your services?
At Yazaki, we prioritize speed without sacrificing quality. We understand growing companies need agility, which is why our services are designed to scale quickly and efficiently.
Our team is always ready to tackle projects with tight deadlines while maintaining our high standards. Our in-house trained specialists ensure consistent quality even for complex tasks like semantic segmentation or detailed attribute classification.
We’re here to handle the annotation work so you can focus on what truly matters for your business.
Are there any particularly memorable projects or cases that stand out to you, and why?
One project that stands out was with a client developing autonomous driving systems.
They needed semantic segmentation for hundreds of thousands of images, covering both complex urban and rural environments—all within a short, two-month window.
Despite this scale and complexity, our trained annotators achieved 99.5% labeling accuracy, which proved critical for their model performance. After delivery, the client told us our data significantly reduced their model’s false recognition rate.
We worked closely with their team to fine-tune the labeling criteria and quickly assembled several dozen specialized annotators. That kind of collaboration and measurable impact made it one of our most fulfilling projects.
Lastly, do you have a message for companies currently facing difficulties with image annotation?
If image annotation is slowing down your development or you’re questioning your data quality, you don’t have to tackle this alone.
We understand the importance of getting the right data in the right format quickly—that’s exactly what we’re here for. Our in-house team of trained professionals delivers consistent, high-quality annotations that save you time and effort. We see ourselves not just as a service provider, but as a partner working alongside you, helping you move faster and with greater confidence.
Join our upcoming webinar to see firsthand how we can streamline your annotation process.
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Expert Spotlights are featured interviews, conversations, and announcements sourced through our event series, audio podcast, and newsmaker interviews — developed with the support of industry partner and sponsor organizations.
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