2017 Volume 14 Pages 37-54
This paper examines how human mobility is going to change and which social issues will arise in the near future due to artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving (AD) through a joint study of sociologists, and researchers in the forefront of engineering. Using figures consisting of coordinate axes of human's “mobility-immobility” and “functionality-amusement value,” it has been demonstrated that aspects related to “mobility-functionality” rapidly decreased and the “immobility” area gradually expanded with the progress of information communication technology (ICT). Based on this, it can be observed that the usage of automobiles will be limited to logistics or distribution when AI and AD technology becomes more advanced. From this point of view, in order to release human desire of mobility, ‘adaptation to the expansion of the bodily sensation of movement,’ ‘presentation of personalized tourist information, individual correspondence to history, culture and subculture while moving,’ and ‘adaptation of both the automobiles and the social system to the new changing ties of human relationship’ will be necessary in the near future. Based on the results of this qualitative research, the authors, from both aspects of technology and society, propose examples of the possibility of using small vehicles with AD to tours of winery or sake-brewery, cultural tourism recommendation system in Kyoto using big data of the driver's personal history, and ridesharing with a high degree of freedom using AI.