Empathy, Co-Creation, and Agility: Tackling Tomorrow's Social Challenges

The rise of EVs and connected cars, coupled with technological breakthroughs such as AI, is transforming the role and definition of mobility far beyond a simple means of transportation.

In today's rapidly changing times, the old approach of devising a plan and spending years executing it is no longer enough. What is required instead is close dialogue with users and partners, combined with rapid cycles of prototyping and real-world validation, to deliver solutions that truly create social value. This is where a software-first development mindset becomes essential.

Established in 2017, the Cloud Services R&D Div. has served as a hub for cloud- and software-first innovation. The division advances technology and infrastructure to drive digital transformation, while also pursuing academic-industry collaboration and open innovation to create impact with real social value. Mitsukuni Ikeda, General Manager of the Business Innovation Dept. of the Cloud Services R&D Div., reflects on the changing landscape and the division’s mission.

“What we prioritize is a development approach that enables us to rapidly identify real-world challenges and test solutions. Traditionally, car manufacturing worked on timelines that required planning five years ahead of launch. But as the pace of change accelerates, rapid prototyping—and fast release cycles to gather feedback—has become essential. Our mission is to fundamentally rethink how manufacturing and service development are carried out, so we can stay close to real needs and generate solutions with meaningful impact.”

the Cloud Services R&D Div. collaborates with diverse internal and external partners to develop new services. One example is yuriCargo, a safe-driving support app that uses mobility data.

Utilizing a smartphone’s built-in sensors — including the accelerometer and GPS — yuriCargo detects harsh braking, sudden steering, rapid acceleration, speeding, and smartphone operation while driving. After each trip, the app generates a driving score to encourage safer habits. The service is now expanding into commercial use through programs with insurance providers and local governments, helping promote safer driving across communities.

In this project, the division pursued agile development in co-creation with users and the broader market, while also identifying and developing the organization, talent, and skills needed to deliver IT services.

The division is also advancing Generative-AI-Robot Technology, a robot-control technology powered by generative AI. Unlike conventional factory robots that move according to pre-set instructions, the goal is to create versatile robots that can perceive their surroundings, make autonomous decisions, and act on them. Demonstrations have already been held in retail and event spaces, where robots worked as sales staff alongside humans — testing real-world scenarios and validating new models of natural human-robot collaboration.

Through these initiatives, the division continues to leverage DENSO’s technological assets while envisioning the society of the future and using a backcasting approach — working backward to identify and build the technologies required to realize it. Beyond IT and robotics, the team actively promotes open innovation with partners across AI, data science, cognitive science, and other fields in both industry and academia, pursuing new and better forms of coexistence between people and technology.

Launching such services quickly requires members with advanced technical expertise. At DENSO, this responsibility lies with the Advanced Testing & Evaluation Division. As part of DENSO’s internal R&D centers, the division’s primary role is to support research and development activities. Within the division, the Design Proving Dept. conducts early-stage prototyping — turning engineers’ ideas into tangible concepts and enabling rapid decisions on whether a project should move into real-world implementation. Keigo Koide of the Design Proving Dept. of the Advanced Testing & Evaluation Div. describes the division’s role as follows:

“the Design Proving Dept. brings together specialists in mechanical, electrical, and software engineering, along with XR (extended reality) and even media production, such as photography and video.

When a team has a challenge but no clear way to solve it — or an idea they want to try but aren’t sure how to bring it to life — we step in from the planning stage. We shape the concept and the validation method in parallel, and work with them all the way through to communicating the value created.” — Koide

“Even with internal capabilities in place, addressing an industry-wide transformation requires collaboration with diverse experts outside the company.

In 2022, the Cloud Services R&D Div. launched the DENSO OPEN INNOVATION PROJECT. By combining DENSO technologies with external ideas, the project aims to create value beyond mobility. Through community building and events, it provides a platform for new business creation that leverages DENSO’s technologies, products, services, and talent.”

Past co-creation themes have included regional revitalization using Life Vision, a regional information service app, as well as QR code–based identity verificati

• Related article: DENSO OPEN INNOVATION PROJECT for creating value beyond the boundaries of mobility, DRIVEN BASE

Why is collaboration across internal and external partners so critical? For DENSO to deliver new value to society at large, it must extend the technologies it has cultivated as an automotive supplier — such as sensors, robotics, and actuators — into non-mobility fields. Daisuke Kawai of the Cloud Services R&D Div. explains the mindset required to make this possible.

“To build partnerships that go beyond the traditional automotive industry and engage a diverse range of collaborators, we believe that equality is essential. Guided by the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, we do not view customers as simple sales or contract targets, but as partners with whom we create value together. This mindset is embodied in the DENSO OPEN INNOVATION PROJECT.” — Kawai

Recent initiatives within the DENSO OPEN INNOVATION PROJECT are already creating ideas that could reshape mobility and society.

From 2024 to 2025, DENSO partnered with Tokyo’s Ota Ward to host a three-month hackathon focused on solving future urban challenges through mobility. Participants ranged from university students to people in their seventies. The result — led by DENSO members — was Co-aile, a wheelchair designed to expand the joy of movement.

Co-aile is a modified version of COGY, a pedal-powered wheelchair developed and sold by the R&D-driven startup TESS. The prototype was built to envision a world where both people with disabilities and those without can enjoy movement itself — a world where everyone can travel farther, with more freedom.

The idea was sparked by a participant in the DENSO OPEN INNOVATION PROJECT: a man who became partially paralyzed after a stroke several years ago and now uses COGY regularly. During the hackathon, he spoke passionately about how empowering it feels to pedal under his own strength, to move forward, and to feel the wind against his face.

At the same time, he spoke candidly about the limitations he faced — how relying on a wheelchair had gradually reduced the range of his daily movement, and how convenience had come at the cost of declining physical ability. With the hope that he could rediscover a broader world and fully feel the joy of moving under his own power, the development of Co-aile began.

Koide reflects: "We wanted to enrich the happiness he felt from moving under his own strength. Rather than prioritizing efficiency and convenience to eliminate inconvenience, we aimed to amplify the positive experience itself. We shaped development around what mattered most to him. As a result, we created a prototype that retains the pedal function, preserving its rehabilitative benefits while expanding his range of mobility."

Although the Co-aile project formally concluded with the end of the hackathon, its impact reached far beyond simply generating a business opportunity.

Kawai explains: "The most meaningful outcome was seeing his expression when he rode the prototype for the first time. Staying close to one user’s challenge, building a narrative around the future we wanted to create, and bringing in the right collaborators to make it real — that was the greatest reward. This project united not only the Cloud Services R&D Div. and the Advanced Testing & Evaluation Division, but also our Design Division, Ota Ward, a startup, and even a bicycle shop. It showed us that when people from different fields come together — sharing aspirations, debating openly, and pushing forward with a touch of playfulness — real solutions to complex social challenges become possible."

The prototype was completed in just six weeks. The rapid prototyping capability developed through this initiative will continue to fuel future projects, as DENSO tackles emerging social challenges through empathy, co-creation, and agile innovation.