Social Mover
Japan
Mobility start-ups that help vulnerable passengers by optimising and restructuring welfare and tourism transport services.
Website
social-mover.co
Partners
1982 impact Fund, The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism Japan, Toyota Mobility Foundation
Key figures
50+ Clients
300+ Connected Vehicles
Domains
Mobility Service, Sharing Economy, Rideshare, Welfare, Tourism, Frist & Last Mile Transport
Date
2023 - Present
The Challenge
In Japan's aging and declining population, over 500,000 elderly individuals surrender their driver’s licenses annually. Mobility options like buses and cabs are increasingly inaccessible due to reduced services, long walks to bus stops, and a 40% decline in cabs over 15 years. Many areas now lack cabs entirely, and older drivers (average age over 60) often struggle to assist physically disabled passengers, leading to ride refusals.
Meanwhile, government-backed long-term care facilities operate 250,000 vehicles daily, transporting 2.8 million people. Managed by busy care staff, these transfers carry significant operational and safety risks. Could facility transportation be optimized to create sustainable mobility solutions?
The Innovation
The solution was found by focusing on the nursing care cab business, which, despite being licensed for specific users, faces income instability. Outsourcing facility transportation to care cabs reduces staff workload, provides stable revenue for operators, and offers the elderly familiar, reliable transportation, fostering sustainable community mobility.
The CareDrive platform enables this by streamlining transportation. Facility staff create door-to-door plans, optimized by algorithms for carpooling, vehicle use, and driving distance. The platform supports welfare-specific needs, such as assistance instructions tailored to users' physical and disability characteristics. Administrators assign trips to care cabs, while drivers follow optimized routes and log trips via a smartphone app.
