Robotaxi Developer MoveEz Selected for Funding Under ISICO’s FY2026 Growth Strategy Fund

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MoveEz, Inc. (Headquarters: Kanazawa, Ishikawa; Representative Director and CEO: Eric Wei; hereinafter “MoveEz”), a leading autonomous driving technology company with a proven track record, is pleased to announce that it has been selected for the Research and Development Support Program (DX Product and Service Development Support) under the FY2026 Growth Strategy Fund administered by the Ishikawa Sunrise Industries Creation Organization (ISICO).
Reference: ISICO Growth Strategy Fund: Research and Development Support
Selection Results: https://www.isico.or.jp/uploaded/attachment/1015187.pdf

■Background

MoveEz is a Kanazawa University spin-off startup founded in May 2024 with the mission, “Freedom of Mobility. Towards a Society Without Transportation Inequality.” The company is working to realize fully autonomous robotaxis.

Amid Japan’s declining birthrate, aging population, and shortage of drivers, maintaining local transportation services such as fixed-route buses and taxis has become a major challenge for regional cities. Meanwhile, robotaxi development and services are currently concentrated primarily in major cities and regions with relatively mild climates. Stable operation in regional cities, including snowy areas, requires both resilience to adverse weather and lower deployment costs.

LiDAR and cameras, which are widely used in autonomous driving systems, can experience reduced perception performance when raindrops or snow adhere to their surfaces. In addition, introducing autonomous driving in a new area requires substantial time and expense to prepare the necessary maps.

By combining its proprietary 2D mapping technology with all-weather autonomous driving technologies, MoveEz aims to deploy robotaxis that can operate “anytime, anywhere.”

■About ISICO’s “Growth Strategy Fund” Research and Development Support Program (DX Product and Service Development Support)

The Growth Strategy Fund is administered by the Ishikawa Sunrise Industries Creation Organization (ISICO) to support companies in Ishikawa Prefecture in conducting new research and development, developing products and services, and commercializing their innovations.

The Research and Development Support Program, under which MoveEz was selected in the DX Product and Service Development Support category, covers R&D for new products and services that leverage digital technologies, as well as R&D in green transformation (GX)-related fields. Under the program, subsidies may cover up to two-thirds of eligible expenses, with a maximum subsidy of JPY 30 million and a support period of up to three years.

Through this support, MoveEz will further advance its autonomous driving technologies and work with Kanazawa University and other partners to validate its R&D outcomes in real-world environments and move them toward commercialization.

■Project Overview

This project will address two key barriers to the real-world deployment of autonomous mobility: reduced sensor performance in adverse weather and the burden of preparing maps for autonomous driving. The project will focus primarily on developing vehicle-mounted sensors that are less susceptible to rain and snow and advancing technologies for efficiently generating the maps required for autonomous driving.

Unlike the detailed 3D maps commonly used in autonomous driving, MoveEz uses simple 2D maps containing primarily the road information required for driving. By limiting map data to essential information, this approach reduces the time and cost required for map creation and makes it easier to introduce autonomous driving in new areas.

By further streamlining map generation and combining it with technologies designed for adverse weather, MoveEz aims to make robotaxis practical across a wide range of locations, including snowy areas and regional cities.

■About MoveEz

MoveEz was founded in May 2024 as a Kanazawa University spin-off startup with the mission, “Freedom of Mobility. Towards a Society Without Transportation Inequality.” The company aims to fulfill this mission by bringing fully autonomous robotaxis to reality. MoveEz is built on 28 years of research and development conducted at Kanazawa University since 1998, when autonomous driving was still in its infancy. The company began public-road testing in 2015, ahead of many others in the industry, and has since accumulated more than 40,000 kilometers of driving and carried over 2,000 passengers. It also holds numerous patents.

Headquarters: Kanazawa, Ishikawa
Established: May 2024
Representatives: Eric Wei, Representative Director and CEO; Naoki Suganuma, Representative Director and CTO
Business: Development of autonomous driving systems and provision of autonomous driving services
URL: https://moveez-inc.com/en/