### 2. Connected vehicles and autonomous vehicles

## (1) Connected vehicles

Connected vehicles are vehicles with ICT device functions. Sensors on the vehicles collect many kinds of data, such as the vehicle's operational status and the surrounding road conditions. By accumulating and analyzing these data via networks, new value is expected to be generated. For example, some applications that are just reaching commercial viability are systems that automatically place an emergency call in the event of an accident, telematics auto insurance that adjusts insurance rates based on driver behavior, and systems that track the position of a vehicle if stolen.

## (2) Autonomous vehicles

Almost all vehicles on the road today require the driver to manually operate the steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and brakes. Autonomous vehicles, in contrast, have been gaining attention lately because the vehicle drives itself safely, following instructions, to the specified destination while accounting for road and traffic conditions without the driver directly intervening in its operation. Autonomous vehicles work by combining sensing, which measures conditions and situations inside and outside the vehicle, with other technologies,

Figure 4-1-2-1 Intention to use autonomous vehicles

### 3. Partner robots

such as ICT technologies and automated vehicle control technologies.

The future partner robot market is predicted to skyrocket. Although Japanese corporations have been developing and marketing rudimentary domestic robot products, how interested are consumers in them? We

The development of robot technology has been primarily focused on industrial robots that operate in factories and plants. Domestic robots, on the other hand, have been mainly the stuff of science fiction—i.e., life-service robots that help with chores, caregiving, and raising children in the home or serve as communication partners for people—and only a few have been developed into commercial products. In recent years, however, there has been growing interest in such robot applications in the life services field.

Companies are very active in pushing toward practical autonomous vehicles, but what is the actual level of interest in autonomous vehicles among consumers?

In our survey, we asked the monitors about their intention to use autonomous vehicles after defining an autonomous vehicle as “a vehicle that maintains an awareness of the surrounding conditions and drives autonomously by means of radar and sensors and that can find the optimal route to a destination just by selecting the desired destination.”

The results found that more than half (54.6 percent) of the respondents had an intention to use autonomous cars (total of respondents who answered “would like to use” and “would consider using”) (Figure 4-1-2-1). By age bracket, respondents 60 and older had the highest intention to use (total of respondents who answered “would like to use” and “would consider using”), at nearly 60 percent. This finding suggests that there are mounting high expectations among seniors for autonomous vehicles as means of getting around without the difficulty of driving (Figure 4-1-2-2).

(Source) "Study Report on People's Attitudes toward New ICT Services and Technologies that Resolve Social Issues," MIC (2015)

Figure 4-1-2-2 Intention to use autonomous vehicles(by age bracket)

verified the intention to use partner robots among consumers with a survey that asked about three different fields—caregiving, communications, and child-raising—that are anticipated to become leading application fields for partner robots.

## (1) Intention to use caregiving robots

Caregiving is expected to become one of the leading application fields for partner robots. Some preliminary trials are already in progress to gauge the application of robot technology in the caregiving field. Since robot technology is advancing day by day, it is difficult to make a one-size-fits-all definition of caregiving robots. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this survey, we assumed a