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• Kotodukuri
• SDGs /CSR /Environment
• NEWDec. 14, 2018

Daihatsu to Participate in the “Suburban Automated Mobility Service Business Consortium” Seeking to realize an ideal form of sustainable mobility in suburban areas

Dec. 14, 2018
Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd.

Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Daihatsu”) has announced that it will participate in the Suburban Automated Mobility Service Business Consortium, which was established by The Japan Research Institute, Limited. (hereinafter “JRI”) on August 29, 2018.

Daihatsu’s goals in participating in the consortium

In recent years, the average age of the Japanese population has increased markedly not only in rural areas but also in the suburbs. Many suburban estates were developed around the 1960’s and located in hilly areas without sufficient public transportation, and every year senior residents expect mobility service businesses to provide greater support for local lifestyles. Based on its Group Slogan of “Light you up,” Daihatsu seeks to illuminate each and every one of its customers, deliver meticulous products and services, and thereby provide its customers with shining lifestyles. Having started exploring the needs of suburban estates, Daihatsu believes that “sustainable mobility services” that contribute to the creation of “lively towns in which people can continue living without inconvenience” are necessary. To this end, the company started collaborating with the JRI in fiscal 2017; this fiscal year, it intends to participate in the Suburban Automated Mobility Service Business Consortium, which is a collaboration between industry, academia, public, and private sectors, including local governments and local associations in areas in which demonstration tests are taking place.

Daihatsu’s consortium initiatives

Daihatsu’s mini vehicles are used by a wide range of people in suburban areas. Using such mini vehicles, the company intends to investigate the optimal vehicle specifications for ride-sharing services in the lives of suburban residents. Daihatsu will provide its typical minimum-spec vehicles at low cost, which balance passenger capacity with the characteristics of the local environment, such as narrow residential roads. In this way, the company will research how well received the vehicles are by locals, how easy they are to enter and exit, and how comfortable they are. In order to identify both the technical and service-based needs of future suburban mobility, Daihatsu will begin not with autonomous driving but with human-operated cars driven by drivers from transportation companies.

^*1For further information about the consortium, please refer to the JRI press releases below:

^*2For further information about the Atrai Wagon base vehicle, please see the following product page: