Sony to Launch AI-Based Taxi-Hailing Service in Japan

By Ela Teodosio, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Sony Corp. announced on Tuesday that it plans to launch a new taxi and ride-hailing system in Japan, which will be a joint project to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based hailing system.

The move will be in partnership with five Japanese taxi companies — Daiwa Motor Transportation, Hinomaru Kotsu, Kokusai Motorcars, Green Cab, and Checker Cab Group.

The upcoming service will be equipped with AI support, which will manage taxi dispatches and predict the demand for rides based on various factors like weather, traffic, and local events. This will be combined with existing Sony apps, which should make the ride-hailing system more efficient.

Japan is said to be a lucrative location to open a ride-hailing system, as regulators are being urged to revise their current stringent rules.

The East Asian country does not allow non-professional drivers to be a part of its ride-hailing system. Instead, when a mobile application is used by passengers to hail vehicles, it only tracks down plate numbers of licensed taxis. This is the main reason Uber is not able to operate in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. It is allowed only in rural areas, where there are no taxis available.

Instead of creating ride-sharing services that employ private vehicles, companies are partnering with existing taxi fleets to create their own services.

Sony, which is expected to launch its service by spring, is among the newest player to enter Japan's ride-hailing market.

Just after Sony announced its plans, Uber also revealed that it is expanding its service in Japan by also partnering with existing taxi companies. According to Bloomberg, this would serve as the company's renewed push to increase its current 1 percent hold on Japan's $16 billion taxi market, after previous losses in other countries like Russia and China.

Last month, Toyota was first to announce an AI-based ride-hailing service with partner JapanTaxi, which was set up by the country's largest taxi firm, Nihon Kotsu. It reportedly operates 60,000 taxis, or one-fourth the total number of taxis in the country, which gives JapanTaxi the biggest market share among all ride-hailing services.