The Campaign

Our idea: to develop a new parking service for the i-ROAD, using the city’s wasted space. We turned our attention to Tokyo’s small unused spots to build a parking network where landowners shared spaces and locals drove and parked to find spaces. We recruited interested test pilots from the web who enjoyed daily mobility as the i-ROAD collected driving and location data. This data became the foundation of a system that autonomously discovered parking, increasing parking spots and making the project a success. The i-ROAD and this service could show more urban areas the advantages of driving the i-ROAD and parking in small spots. This new business model has the potential to improve society, and we're working hard to increase the i-ROAD's value.

Creative Execution

We developed a prototype i-ROAD and a parking service to work with it, using an internet-connected logging system that collects driving and GPS data. The system gathered all user statuses, integrating driving data for time, positioning, and spaces that users rated highly for parking. Then over a year, we recruited test pilots through the website, loaning them the prototype and the parking service. As drivers went about their days driving and parking around Tokyo, we accumulated more and more data to develop a parking service that served drivers. As the drivers enjoyed their daily rides, they contributed to the data that ultimately led to discovering more parking spaces. We built a system that autonomously increased the number of parking spaces we found by leveraging the pleasure of driving the i-ROAD.

Results

Initially, i-ROAD drivers’ monthly distances averaged 58km, but after offering the parking service, distances increased tenfold to 596km. The combination of the service and i-ROAD delivered freedom. User experiences helped us confirm the business potential of the i-ROAD and its new parking service. Moreover, 90% of its drivers expressed intent to buy if the vehicle offering included the parking service. During the project, drivers discovered over 1,500 small spaces. Their driving data not only contributed to the expansion of the parking service but it also to the development of the i-ROAD. Around Tokyo, the project became a hot media topic between Tokyo residents. The i-ROAD YouTube video reached 6.0 million views from people in urban areas all over the world who empathize with parking problems. Furthermore, the autonomous system carries social significance as well, as local laws have allowed tandem riding in certain areas.

Using the i-ROAD, we could show the potential of i-ROAD's parking to the future costumers in Tokyo. We developed this parking service by networking small, unused spaces to be used for i-ROAD parking. In addition, we loaned the i-ROAD and access to the prototype service to interested Tokyo residents. The test pilots drove their i-ROADs around town collecting data that led to the discovery of more spaces, as well as a new awareness to the parking troubles that abundant in large cities. The i-ROAD now has a lot of fans who saw i-ROADs and its parking in Tokyo.

i-ROAD’s targets are people living in central Tokyo who faced a parking problem, so we had to offer the possibility for free parking—different from cars. Our primary strategy involved developing the i-ROAD’s new parking service to increase the product’s usefulness. For the next step, we set up the parking service in our targets’ city so that they could see the i-ROAD’s benefits in their daily life. Thirdly, we used their motivation to use i-ROAD and get more parking spots. We lent the prototype vehicle and a parking service. After that we analyzed the driving data, we developed a system that would expand the service automatically as quickly as possible with minimal cost and time investment.