Demonstration of AI-based mutual-aid transportation started in Chizu Town

Chizu Town, Tottori Prefecture (Mayor: Hideo Kaneko, hereinafter called "Chizu Town") is going to start the demonstration of AI Bus™ on October 19, 2020, with KCCS Mobile Engineering Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Hyngbae Kim; hereinafter called "KCME") and Chugoku Regional Office, NTT DOCOMO, INC. (Located in Naka-Ku, Hiroshima Prefecture; Executive General Manager: Kikuko Shirakawa; hereinafter called "DOCOMO"). The bus system uses KCME's IP notification system "Shirase I (*1)".

To be "the town considering each resident's life" as stated in the 7th Chizu Town Comprehensive Plan, the town in Tottori Prefecture is planning to expand the use of ICT technology in FY2020 in the fields of disaster prevention, education, health care, and transportation, built on the IP notification system (Shirase I), which involves cloud computing and effective use of the existing broadband environment. First, as an effort in transportation, the town is going to take the first step towards "establishing a sustanabletransportation system considering everyone" and conduct the demonstration of AI Bus with KCME and DOCOMO from October 19, 2020 to October 23, 2020. This demonstration will cover only the Nagi and Haji areas.

The existing bus service, "Sugikko Bus", is an important means of transportation in the town but runs on a regular route on a fixed timetable and has difficulty in providing optimized service for each passenger. As the population ages and the demand for public transportation increases, we are moving forward with the introduction of AI Bus as a sustainable transportation infrastructure that can provide optimized support for everyone.
AI bus has no routes or schedules. It allows passengers to make a reservation from home and take it in front of their places to go to their very destinations. This demonstration will verify the convenience and identify issues from both the user and operator perspectives.


Project name
Demonstration of AI-based mutual-aid transportation
Project description
Demonstration project with a private telecommunications operator using the IP notification system "Shirase I":
We will work with the operator to build an AI demand system and verify its compatibility with "Shirase I."

Participants: KCCS Mobile Engineering and NTT DOCOMO
Reference: http://cms.sanin.jp/p/chizu/kikaku/37/

■KCCS Mobile Engineering Co., Ltd. (KCME)

KCCS Mobile Engineering, a member of the Kyocera Group, commenced operations in 2011 intending to become a "global company that contributes to the development of communities where people can continue to thrive without disparities," centering around optimal solutions that integrate mobile and ICT. It is conducting a wide range of businesses, not only in the fields of Mobile Internet, AI, IoT, Big Data, and virtual cloud, which are the foundations of the information revolution, but also in their subdivided fields such as 5G, SDN, NFV, GPON, and related engineering. It is also focusing efforts to implement SDGs while operating its business. Since July 2019, it has introduced the IP notification system to 5 towns and villages in Hokkaido that are members of the Hokkaido Council for the Promotion of ICT Infrastructure Use (*2).

*1: "Shirase I" is a trademark (registration pending).
*2:- Press release on July 20, 2018: https://www.kcme.jp/news-all/news/2018/0720-00.html
- Official website: https://www.kcme.jp/

■NTT DOCOMO, INC.

NTT DOCOMO, INC. was established in 1991 by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), and has been providing services under the NTT DoCoMo brand since 1993. Based on its corporate philosophy of "creating a new world of communications culture," DOCOMO will utilize its individual potential to provide highly personalized communication solutions that truly satisfy customers. To realize this vision, it is consucting various businesses centered on the mobile business based on "docomo 5G" (the 5th generation mobile communication system, service start in March 2020), which uses 5G NR.

Contact for media inquiries

■Chizu Town, Tottori Prefecture
Jun Nishikawa, Planning and Promotion Department, Chizu Town Office
TEL：0858-75-4112
TEL：+81-3-3455-4119
E-mail：j-nishikawa@town.chizu.tottori.jp

■KCCS Mobile Engineering Co., Ltd.
Yuri Tokunou, Public Relations Office
TEL：03-3455-4119
E-mail：public-relations@kcme.jp

■Chugoku Regional Office, NTT DOCOMO, INC.
Seiji Sugimono, Public Relations Office
TEL：082-544-1681
E-mail：sugimotose@nttdocomo.com