Freeing Caregivers from Transportation Duties: Navireru's Vision for the Future of Caregiving

We endorse April Dream, which aims to make April 1st a day to announce dreams. This press release is the dream of "Abicoco Co., Ltd."

Abicoco Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture; Representative Director: Hideo Miyazawa), which provides the AI dispatch system "Navireru" for day services, aims to create a society where "caregivers can focus on their primary care duties without being exhausted by transportation tasks."

Caregivers' "Invisible Burden"

People who aspire to work in caregiving enter this industry with the desire to "be close to the elderly" and "help someone."

However, the reality on the ground was different.

From 7 AM, 30 minutes to 2 hours for creating transportation routes. Mornings are spent driving transportation vehicles and assisting users with boarding/alighting. Afternoons are also spent on transportation duties, leaving no time to talk slowly with users. Anxiety about transportation mistakes, stress from traffic jams, and uneven burden due to individual dependency.

"I chose this job because I wanted to provide care..."

Transportation duties are important. However, if they are a burden on caregivers, encroaching on their primary work, and contributing to turnover—we must change this structure.

The 2040 Problem and Caregiver Shortage

According to estimates by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, there will be a shortage of approximately 690,000 caregivers by 2040. As the aging population and declining birthrate advance, the burden on individual caregivers will continue to increase.

Meanwhile, the turnover rate in the caregiving industry is higher compared to other industries, and much of the reason is the "heavy workload."

We ask: Do caregivers need to be exhausted by tasks other than caregiving? With the evolution of technology, operational efficiency is possible. Creating an environment where caregivers can exert their full capabilities. We believe this is the first step towards a sustainable future for caregiving.

Background of Development: Voices Heard at Care Facilities

In the process of developing Navireru, we visited many care facilities and listened directly to the voices of staff. What we heard were urgent pleas from staff suffering from the burden of transportation duties. These voices are the origin of Navireru's development. Efficient transportation operations are not just about saving time. We are confident that it will create an environment where caregivers can exert their full capabilities and lead to improved services for users.

Our Vision for the Future

"A society where caregivers can focus on caregiving."

We will realize a future like the following:

### 1. Transportation Route Creation: AI Automatic Optimization

* AI automatically creates optimal transportation routes with a single click, simply by inputting user information, vehicle information, and constraints. * Dispatch operations that traditionally took several hours are completed in mere seconds. * Joint transportation for multiple facilities is also automatically optimized by consolidating into one vehicle. * If there are additions or changes to users, routes are instantly recalculated and optimized.

### 2. Transportation Operations: Stress-Free

* Visually confirm routes and visiting order on a map, enabling safe and confident transportation without getting lost. * Driver app allows real-time confirmation of transportation schedules, routes, and user information. * Automatic notification function for users and their families ensures smooth information sharing. * Intuitive operation that anyone can use, allowing them to confidently handle transportation.

### 3. Elimination of Individual Dependency

* AI automatically generates optimal routes without relying on the experience and know-how of veteran staff. * An environment where new staff can confidently handle transportation. * Significant reduction in time for new staff training.

### 4. Redeployment of Surplus Time: Back to Core Caregiving

* Reduced time can be spent on communication with users. * Improvement in the quality of recreation and enhancement of individualized care. * Securing time for staff's own skill development.

And above all, a workplace where caregivers can work with a smile.

The Future of Caregiving We Aim to Achieve

The changes brought about by reducing the burden of transportation duties are not limited to staff. As staff gain peace of mind, their smiles will be conveyed to users as warm care—what we aim for is a caregiving environment with such a positive chain reaction.

**More relaxed mornings** With transportation route creation completed in a single click and mere seconds, the morning rush is eliminated. Staff can concentrate on preparing to welcome users and confirming the day's care plan.

**Anyone can confidently handle transportation** An environment where both veteran and new staff can confidently perform transportation duties. Routes can be visually confirmed on a map, and the driver app ensures transportation without getting lost. Individual dependency is eliminated, creating a workplace where the entire team can support each other.

**Smooth joint transportation** Joint transportation for multiple facilities is also automatically optimized by AI. This reduces the time and effort spent on coordination between facilities, allowing services to be provided efficiently to more users.

**Time for core caregiving** The saved time can be allocated to conversations with users, improving the quality of recreation, and enriching individualized care. Caregivers will experience more moments where they feel "I'm glad I chose this job."

**Staff gain peace of mind** By being freed from the stress of transportation duties, each staff member's expression brightens. This newfound peace of mind naturally overflows into interactions with users and casual conversations.

**Those smiles lead to users' smiles** As staff expressions brighten, conversations with users increase, and recreation becomes richer. More users will feel "I'm glad I came today," and coming to day services itself will become a reason for living. The efficiency of transportation is certainly connected to the smiles of users.

Message from the Representative

"We aim to solve on-site problems by integrating AI technology with the caregiving industry. In particular, we believed that transportation services for day services were highly inefficient, imposed significant cost burdens, and were a major factor in exacerbating staff shortages.

During the development process, we visited many care facilities and directly listened to the voices of staff. 'I want to focus on core caregiving, but I'm exhausted by dispatch coordination...' 'I can't attend to other tasks due to inquiries from users and their families...'

Responding to these on-site voices, 'Navireru' was developed with the aim of maximizing the reduction of transportation burdens through AI and creating an environment where staff can concentrate on user care.

Caregiving is a job that only humans can do. Reading users' expressions, empathizing with them, and supporting their individual lives. That is the true role of caregivers.

However, creating transportation routes and coordinating dispatch are areas where AI excels. We believe that by resolving the complexities of transportation through technology, people can concentrate on the 'kindness' and 'meticulous service' that they should inherently provide—and we continue to update our system daily with this belief.

What we see beyond that is the smiles of users. Because staff can engage with peace of mind, coming to day services becomes enjoyable for users, and it becomes a reason for living. The efficiency of transportation is connected to that. We continue our development today for that future."

Future Initiatives

We will commence the following initiatives:

**Implementation of more advanced AI functions** Shuttle transportation function (optimization of round-trip transportation)

In response to strong requests from small-scale day services and facilities with limited vehicles, we will implement a function that efficiently performs multiple round-trip transportation using a single vehicle. This will enable them to respond to more users with limited resources.

We will continue to solve the challenges of transportation operations and promote the creation of an environment where caregivers can concentrate on their primary work.

【Company Profile】

Company Name: Abicoco Co., Ltd. Head Office Location: Lion Building 4F, 3-19-1 Marunouchi, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Representative Director: Hideo Miyazawa Business Activities: System development, application development, web marketing support Established: March 2024 HP: https://www.abicoco.co.jp/