Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) has selected five teams to work on activities in the first half of 2023 in the “Fun & Safety―Safely Experience Peak Excitement” category of its Make a Move Project, an idea contest aiming to realize the practical implementation of ideas and solutions in society.
Under the concept of “The stage is a racetrack. The possibilities are endless. The pursuit of fun is connected to the pursuit of safety,” this contest, which started in 2022, publicly seeks ideas and solutions that draw on motorsports know-how to further traffic safety and regional revitalization. The Ebisu Circuit (Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture), which has long been helping a wide range of drivers improve their skills, was selected at the test site. A total of 74 organizations and individuals submitted ideas and solutions to the contest. These were evaluated from the perspective of innovativeness and sustainability, with external experts also contributing opinions. The result saw 16 teams passing the document screening stage and being invited to refine their ideas at the Ebisu Circuit.
After participating in the above screening stages, five teams were selected as finalists by February 2023. Each team was awarded a grant of up to 50 million yen, for a total of 170 million yen, to fund their activities for the first half of the year. Team demonstrations at the Ebisu Circuit are planned for July, with the results being used to further activities.
| Selected Team | Initiative Details |
|---|---|
| Kamakura International F.C. | Work on revitalizing the Ebisu Circuit and its surrounding area by utilizing experience gained establishing a co-creation/co-prosperity community in Kamakura with a football team as the starting point. Explore regional sustainable development measures using Web3 concepts, such as human resource development and token/NFT issuance. |
| Team Fukushima | The know-how the Ebisu circuit has accumulated in training drivers on dirt and other slippery surfaces contributes to improving the driving skills of a wide range of drivers, from professionals to ordinary drivers. A school curriculum will be developed by collecting and analyzing data and feedback from a diverse range of drivers using the circuit, allowing everyone to improve their driving skills, which will lead to better traffic safety. |
| Japan Race Promotion Inc. | SFgo, an app that allows people to have more fun watching races, was introduced this year in the top race category, Super Formula. Aiming to improve the efficiency of school operations and develop human resources for teaching, app functionality that enables the visualization and sharing of real-time driving conditions will be used to help digitalize the “coaching” of sports driving. |
| Racing Hero Inc. | Develop an unprecedented training curriculum by leveraging e-motorsports and simulator knowledge. Utilize an extensive network and related services to improve driving skills and promote traffic safety. |
| Fusion LLC. | Popular voice actors and the automobile industry have teamed up to form teamOVER, which will broadcast on an official YouTube channel to inform people about the fun and joy of cars and traffic safety. |
Since its founding, the Toyota Motor Corporation has conducted its business activities with the aim of creating a prosperous society through automobiles while respecting all stakeholders, including customers, business partners, employees, and the local communities in which it operates. Accordingly, TMF was established in August 2014 to conduct activities that benefit the public good.
Aiming to realize a mobility society in which everyone can move about freely, TMF is working to solve mobility issues around the world through a diverse range of projects. Going forward, the Toyota Group, working in cooperation with various partners and utilizing the technologies and knowhow it has cultivated through its business activities, will continue to promote undertakings that are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while contributing to the realization of a society where people can lead rich and fulfilling lives.
SOURCE: Toyota
