Fujitsu and Nagoya University develop simulation tech to combat transportation gaps

The "Social Acceptance Model," developed by Nagoya University, provides a framework for understanding the psychological drivers behind transportation choices. By integrating this model with Fujitsu's agent simulation digital rehearsal technology, which accurately reproduces and predicts human behavior on digital twins, the system can assess how various interventions – such as targeted advertising or other service improvements – will affect residents' perceptions and consequently their willingness to use the service.

To verify the effectiveness of this technology, Fujitsu utilized the data from a field experiment of an on-demand ride-sharing taxi service conducted by Kawanishi Town in Nara Prefecture and CHUO FUKKEN CONSULTANTS CO.,LTD. in fiscal year 2023. In addition, Nagoya University conducted a 48-point survey to clarify the psychological factors that influence the intention to use on-demand ride-sharing taxis and obtained responses from approximately 1,200 people (15% of the local population).

Based on this survey data, the simulation was built to replicate residents' choices regarding the service. The model succeeded in reproducing the actual usage trends of on-demand transportation in Kawanishi Town, achieving accuracy of 90%.

Using this simulation, the two parties optimized two key measures – "public awareness activities" and "service expansion by increasing the number of vehicles" – for the two psychological factors that were estimated to have a strong impact on usage intention: "awareness of the service" and " perceived usefulness." The simulation specifically revealed that strategically improving the timing and frequency of the distribution of promotional materials and the increase of the number of available taxis could significantly reduce reservation failures and boost usage intention by approximately 20%, leading to a greater service sustainability.