SWAT Mobility Expands into Japan with On-Demand Shuttles for J:COM Employees

• Employees using the service are J:COM’s team of travelling salespersons
• The on-demand shuttles will operate in the areas of Nerima, Tokyo and Sakai, Osaka.

Tokyo, 20 July 2020 - SWAT Mobility (SWAT), a Singapore-based mobility tech startup, expands into Japan with the launch of a new on-demand work transport for employees in J:COM, a leading CATV operation and telecommunication company in Japan. SWAT will support the trial with a mobile app for J:COM’s salespersons to book on-demand rides on shuttles, where their proprietary dynamic routing algorithm will route the vehicles provided by J:COM; J:COM owns 4,500 vehicles. SWAT’s Japan-based investors include The University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) and LKJ Capital Japan.

The on-demand shuttles will operate in the areas of Nerima, Tokyo and Sakai, Osaka. The service will allow these salespersons to travel for their work without having to worry about driving or parking. As passengers instead of drivers, they can prepare for meetings while on the rides and get to their meetings on time.

The core technology behind their on-demand transport is a powerful algorithm that can pool a large number of passengers across different areas and route them optimally to maximise utilisation and service levels. SWAT Mobility differs from other ride-sharing companies in that their custom software and services are catered to governments and businesses instead of being sold directly to end-users. Recently, the company supported Toyota Mobility Foundation with their technology to deploy on-demand transport for healthcare workers and deliveries in the cities of Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila.

Japan marks the seventh country SWAT has operations in, and is a core market for the company. Several projects in Japan are already in the pipeline for rollout in the following months. At this time, SWAT offers demand-responsive employee transport solutions for large corporations and industrial parks in the Asia-Pacific region including Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It also runs an on-demand public bus service in New South Wales, Australia. 

“We are excited to officially make our mark in Japan. There is great potential for our technology to make a real difference, to improve mobility in the rural areas and for the elderly population. We believe that deploying efficient demand-responsive buses can help to solve the low ridership problems, and make the operation of bus services in Japan more sustainable,”

said Mr Masashi Suehiro, General Manager and Country Head of Japan, SWAT Mobility.

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About SWAT Mobility

SWAT Mobility (SWAT) is a Singapore-based smart mobility solution firm that provides demand-responsive and ride-sharing technology in high capacity vehicles. With the belief that efficient transport is a fundamental right, SWAT endeavours to use its core mobility engine to improve the way people commute, ease congestion and improve their quality of life. 

Founded in 2016, SWAT has completed over a million dynamically-routed rides worldwide for commuters. The firm’s solutions  are used by clients across Asia Pacific, including Toyota Corporation, Transportation for New South Wales and Sembcorp Marine. Since its inception, the firm has garnered more than US$12 million in funding from investors such as the ComfortDelGro Ventures, Goldbell Group, iGlobe Partners, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) Investments, EDB New Ventures, SMRT Momentum Ventures and the University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC).

The company is headquartered in Singapore, with operations across seven markets including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

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